


Drops of Jupiter

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Asexual Castiel (Supernatural), BDSM, Established Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Gabriel Being Gabriel, I Don't Even Know, Kink Exploration, Light BDSM, Light Bondage, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Gabriel, slight humiliation, that's probably worth mentioning considering it informs the whole story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-07-21 02:15:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16150424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: It starts when Castiel asks for a sex lesson, but ends up in entirely new places when he finds something he likes better.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so technically none of the BDSM in here (its kind of light due to you know, this involving teenagers who don't know what they're doing) is bad form. Please talk to your parters before trying shit with them. However, due to all parties being overenthusiastic teens discovering new things I figure them all jumping the gun can be forgiven a little. Other than that there's a few mentions of Sam/ Lucifer but that's all there is- still creepy and worth a heads up though.
> 
> Beyond that, what is this? Not sure, just something my rat brain cooked up! Also yes, this is named after the song Drops of Jupiter basically because I was listening to it when I wrote this. Side note: sorry for the shit description lmao.

But tell me, did you sail across the sun?

Did you make it to the Milky Way and see the lights all faded?

And that Heaven is overrated?

\- Drops of Jupiter, Train

Castiel stares out the window while Dean and Gabriel chatter away, irritating him with their words. Usually he doesn’t find their talking annoying but today was not a good day and he mostly just wants them to shut up so he reaches for the stereo and turns on the music. Gabriel lets out an annoyed noise as one of his playlists starts playing but when he reaches for the stereo Castiel glares at him, “change that song and I swear to _god_ I will put on Frank Turner,” he warns him.

Gabriel sighs and slumps in the driver’s seat of the car, “why do you listen so such depressing shit?” he asks.

“Because I like it. All Dean’s music is about sex, mostly, and you don’t whine about that.” Its baffling to Castiel how people will complain about Taylor Swift writing a bunch of love songs when most artists and genres do the same thing but maybe that’s because he’s baffled that _sex_ tends to be the main topic. He holds an interest in the act mostly to see what all that fuss is about. Dean is always on about it and if he has to hear one more reference to the subject out of Gabriel he’s telling him that Sam likes his music and he can see how much Gabriel crushes on Sam _then_. Not that he thinks Castiel knows about that. Of course you’d have to be missing all basic senses or be Dean to miss that, but Castiel has poor social skills so Gabriel thinks he’s clueless on all accounts.

“But its depressing,” Gabriel says. “Like all of it. I worry about you, man.” He says it flippantly but Castiel knows it’s genuine. Lucifer has said similar things but he didn’t like it much when Castiel pointed out that his drug habits were way more concerning than Castiel’s musical preferences. That, and Lucifer only cares about himself anyways.

“I worry about how much candy you have stuffed in your pillows given the amount of cavities you had the last time we went to the dentist but you _insist_ your fine. So bug off,” he tells Gabriel.

Dean sticks his head between them from the back seat, which he always gripes about being in if John isn’t around to leave the car. Which happens to be now, hence them all in Lucifer’s car. “Cas has a point,” he says. “I’ve never seen someone eat so much damn candy.”

“Consider it practice for when I _make_ candy. I’m going to be Willy Wonka but hopefully not as creepy,” Gabriel says. “Actually turning some kids into blueberries, tossing them down garbage chutes, and watching them fall into chocolate rivers sounds fun so maybe I’ll keep the creeps.”

Castiel decides to ignore that while Dean suggests a while list of people to toss down the garbage chute. Frankly he’s convinced it’d be _Gabriel_ who ends up in the chocolate river but he doesn’t tell Gabriel that.

When they get home Castiel makes an immediate beeline to his room, ignoring the way Lucifer yells at him to get back down stairs mostly because he thinks Lucifer sucks as a parent. Who left _him_ in charge? Castiel would almost prefer Raphael to Lucifer and honestly that’s sad considering how much he detests Raph. But their parents are dead and against all odds it was _Lucifer_ who came home first. Castiel suspects he has a motivation but for now he leaves it. Hell, for all he knows his motivation is just to torment people who can’t leave. Gabriel isn’t motivated to get a job and Castiel is still in high school even if it’s his last year. Still makes him stuck with his asshole older brother for the time being.

As soon as he gets to his room his laptop informs him that someone is trying to video chat with him and he sighs, hitting the accept button. “I literally left you a half an hour ago, Meg, what kind of life changing thing could have happened in that time frame that encouraged you to call me?”

“I got into a fight and totally punched Ruby in the tit,” she says, laughing.

Castiel squints at her, “why would you get into a fight with Ruby?” he asks.

Meg shrugs, “she was talking shit. And you know what they say,” she says.

He frowns, “snitches get stiches?” he asks.

“No dumbass, talk shit get hit. But punching someone in the tit? That’s been on my bucket list for years so I can scratch that bad boy off,” she tells him, grinning.

Meg is weird, but he’s weird too so he doesn’t judge. “What else is on that bucket list of yours?” he asks. She’s probably got some bizarre set of tasks and he’s curious.

“Kinda wanna punch a shark,” she says and Castiel laughs.

“That is probably the least surprising thing you could have said. You called to annoy me about punching Ruby in the tit, give me something good,” he says.

Meg considers it for a moment before she leans forward; “I want to do something good for a kid, something that actually matters to them later. But mostly I just scare them off,” she says. “Also I want to be known as a witch in my old age. If we live together we’ll probably be known as those creepy old people who probably sacrifice couples to demons.” She grins wide, clearly pleased with this idea.

Castiel has other plans for his old age, assuming he gets there, but he lets Meg have her dreams of being the creepy old witch who summons demons with her equally creepy… whatever Castiel would be to her. “I… kind of want to have sex with Dean Winchester,” he says, deciding on it in the moment. He seems like a good choice. Bad bucket list item, but it’s not the dumbest thing he’s ever heard. That goes to Gabriel’s wanting to sleep for a week straight, which he seemed to be unaware was a coma. People are seemingly unable to shut up about sex, he might as well figure out what everyone is on about. Besides, Dean is a good choice, they’ve known each other for years, he’s attractive, and he seems less likely to laugh at Castiel’s absolute inability to be any kind of social.

“Good news hot pants, Dean Winchester is a slut. You could probably have that in the bag by tomorrow,” Meg tells him. “Any other plans?”

“I want to eat fifteen pies in a row, but I think I’ll throw up before I manage,” he says. Gabriel could probably manage given the shocking amount of sugar he ingests.

Meg snorts, “you’re a simple man, Clarence,” she tells him and with that she signs off. He decides that her calling him ‘simple’ isn’t an insult like it would be with most people. He’s been called names since kids knew how to talk, why they still try and hurt his feelings with their frankly unoriginal and stupid insults he has no clue. Not that Meg has ever insulted him, not really. She tends to punch people who actually insult him, which he finds amusing even if he’d never tell anyone but Meg that.

*

Dean is probably going to hell for like seven thousand reasons including that time he used Sammy’s laptop to look up porn and the poor kid accidentally _found_ it the next day, but his lusting after his best friend’s brother probably sealed his fate. Yeah maybe he knew he was a little bit bisexual before Cas, there was that phase where he was really into Dr. Sexy, and then that phase where he didn’t hate Panic! At The Disco but mostly what he liked was the singer’s ass. But Cas was sort of the final realization and he doesn’t even know where it came from. He’s known Cas for years but damn, he grew up pretty. Awkward as hell, but Dean is more than willing to overlook that mostly because that’s about ninety percent of Cas’ charm.

Gabriel would kick his _ass_ if he knew so Dean mostly keeps that attraction to himself. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t think about it though, probably way too much. “Hey,” Sam says, walking over to him, “can you help me with my homework?” he asks.

Dean squints at him, “Sammy, you used to help me with _my_ homework. What the hell do you actually want?”

Sam slumps a little, “damn it, I knew that was a bad ruse. Can I go to a party?” he asks.

“You thought doing homework would help me let you go to a party?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Sure. You know, make you feel like a competent big brother and all that, butter you up a little,” he says, shrugging a little sheepishly.

Dean grins, “who is she?” he asks. Sam hates parties, he finds them boring and he’s never been all that fond of drinking either. That’s more Dean’s bit so if he wants to go to a party there’s a reason and he _is_ sixteen. A year younger than Cas. More than old enough to have taken an interest in someone.

Sam shifts back and forth a little, laughing softly. “That... its not… no one, Dean,” he says entirely unconvincingly.

“Mhmm, sure. By the way next time you want to play the ‘butter Dean up’ ruse try and find something I’d actually be successful at,” he tells Sam. “And your ass better be in bed by midnight,” he adds and Sam groans.

“Who comes back from a party before midnight?” he asks.

“You do,” Dean tells him.

“You always said the best parties start at two a.m,” Sam points out.

“And now I’m a mechanic living in my father’s basement to avoid going to college because I didn’t make grades. That is the beginning of a ‘don’t be like that guy’ PSA,” he tells Sam.

“Gabriel lives in Lucifer’s basement and his only job is eating a lot of chocolate and driving Castiel to school and back. To be fair you’re doing a little better than that,” Sam points out.

Dean frowns, “you’re allowed to go Sam, you can stop buttering me up,” he says.

“Maybe out till one?” Sam asks, smiling a little.

“Nope. Ass in that bed my midnight, don’t think I won’t check,” he says. Not that he’d honestly care that much but Sam is a rules kind of guy unless dad is making them. Then he’s more of a very anti establishment kind of guy.

Sam grumbles a little bit but scampers off to go do his thing, dashing out the back door within minutes. Dean shakes his head and wonders if he’ll meet Sammy’s crush any time soon. He seems like the wholesome ‘bring them home’ kind of kid and Dean is curious. He’s trying to determine what Sam’s type is based on who he’s expressed interest in before when someone knocks on the door.

When he opens it he’s surprised to find Cas behind it. “Hello, Dean,” he says. “I have a proposition for you.”

He’s probably thought of a million scenarios that start this way and end with Cas in his bed but he ignores that right now. Its not like Cas has an interest and also there’s the fact that he’s Gabriel’s brother to consider. “Uh. Okay?” he asks more than states, wondering what the hell Cas would want from him.

Cas tilts his head to the side a little and pauses, considering his words. “I want sex lessons,” Cas says bluntly and Dean’s eyebrows fly up.

“Have you been watching porn?” he asks. Or reading Dean’s mind because _that’s_ a popular fantasy and okay yeah, he so going to hell for that.

“No. I find it too manufactured,” Cas says, stepping past Dean into the house. He considers the darkness outside for a moment before shrugging and closing the door. Cas came to him; he can’t be blamed for what comes next. “Why do you ask?” Cas continues, frowning adorably. ‘Course he might be a little biased- he thinks Cas does everything adorably.

He shakes his head, “never mind. Where did you get this idea?” he asks. Why the hell is he even asking questions? This was this morning’s shower fantasy except Cas was wearing a lot less than that trench coat and his usual button down and jeans. Gabriel jokes that he looks like a tax accountant except that’s not really a joke so much as reality.

Cas shrugs, “well, we’ve known each other for years, I have it on _quite_ good authority that you’re experienced, and you’re attractive enough. Seemed like a good combination,” he says.

That’s so… clinical. He’s not sure why he’s surprised, Cas has always been like this but that’s not… well, he’s at least deviating from the fantasies now. “‘Attractive enough’? What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, unsure if he should be offended or not.

“I don’t really find anyone attractive, you should consider that a compliment. You have nice eyes,” Cas throws in and its obviously to make him feel better, he’s getting better at figuring stuff like that out, but it makes Dean smile nonetheless.

“Thanks, Cas. And the little massive problem of your brother being my best friend?” he asks, wondering how Cas factored that in.

He shrugs, “just because he feels the need to fill me in on details of his sex life I’d rather stab my ears off than listen to doesn’t mean I need to reciprocate,” he says.

Dean’s eyebrows lift again, “you plan on _lying_ to him?” he asks.

Cas’ eyebrows pull together a little as he squints. “No Dean, I’m just not going to tell him.”

“That’s technically lying by omission, Cas,” Dean tells him.

“Well that’s a stupid rule,” Cas mumbles, shaking his head. “So are you alright with this or not?” he asks bluntly.

 _Hell_ yeah he’s alright with this.

*

Castiel sits perched on the dryer mostly because Dean had to do laundry and also because his sex lessons involve a strange amount of talking. He thinks Meg underestimated Dean’s sluttiness. “Does this much conversation usually preclude sex or is this a you thing?” Castiel asks.

Dean looks up from his laundry and smiles, he’s got a nice smile, “Cas. Learning takes time and you probably don’t know the basics. That’s where we’re starting,” he says.

He squints, “basics?” he asks. “Because I’ve done a lot of reading and I’m not a moron- I put things together.”

That earns him a laugh but it’s not a mocking one, thankfully. “Reading ain’t gunna help you buddy. This is a hands on kind of thing and all the basics kind of make the actual sex better. We’ll get to that, but first you get a lesson in kissing,” Dean says, grinning like he’s been looking forward to this.

“I know how to kiss, Dean. I’ve kissed people before,” he says.

“Family members don’t count, Cas. Ew,” he says, wrinkling his entire face in disgust. It’d be kind of funny if not for his total misinterpretation of that.

“I’ve kissed more than family members,” he says. “There was the Catholic priest,” he jokes but judging from the look on Dean’s face he doesn’t pick up on it. He thinks maybe his tone was off; Gabriel uses a tone when he tells jokes but try as he might Castiel has never been able to imitate it. “There was no Catholic priest, Dean. We’re Protestants.”

Realization clues in then and Dean looks relieved. “Yeah, you gotta work on delivery man, that sounded dead serious.” So it was the tone then, that’s a helpful hint.

“I figured the Catholic thing would tip you off,” he says.

Dean squints, “you think I know your denomination? I mean I’m probably not going to forget it now,” he mumbles.

He makes a point. “Upon further reflection I’m surprised you know the word ‘denomination’ and how to use it correctly so that was a bad indicator that I was joking,” he says. Dean lets out a small laugh, shaking his head.

“Honestly that’s the kind of tasteless thing I’d expect out of Gabriel, not you. You’re something else.” he says but there’s a touch of something unfamiliar in his tone and he’s looking at Castiel like Gabriel looks at cake. That’s probably not a bad thing, he guesses. And he isn’t wrong about the Gabriel thing either, a joke along the same lines as Castiel’s got him booted from church before Lucifer. Raph was pissed, but not as pissed as their parents. “So, guess your back to not having kissed anyone,” Dean says, drawing his attention back to the situation at hand and Castiel squints.

“No, I’ve kissed Meg a few times,” he says and Dean makes a face.

“Grow taste, dude. Meg’s gross.” They have some weird, long standing rivalry that Castiel doesn’t understand.

“My taste led me to you, Dean,” he points out.

He wrinkles his nose, “don’t compare us, I’m definitely the better kisser.”

“Well thanks to your incessant talking I don’t have the frame of reference to know,” Castiel mumbles.

Dean lets out a long sigh and steps forward, into Castiel’s personal space. He considers Castiel for a moment, eyes going up and down his body in a way that feels significant but Castiel has never felt the need to look at someone this way. For a moment he pauses, considering, but then he settles a hand on Castiel’s thigh, eyes flicking back up to his face. Castiel frowns, unsure what it means before Dean smiles a little. “Is this okay?” he asks and Castiel squints.

“I asked for a sex lesson, Dean. Your hand on my thigh is considerably less perverted than what I had in mind,” he points out. He thought this would go a lot faster too but he underestimated how much Dean likes to take his time, apparently.

“Still,” Dean murmurs, “making sure your partner is into things is always a good plan.” Castiel thinks that if his partner wasn’t into things it would be abundantly obvious even to him but he doesn’t say that because Dean is back to looking at him like Gabriel looks at cake and he kind of likes it. People don’t look at him the way they look at most anything that isn’t road kill. Dean shuffles a little closer to him, almost flush with the dryer, and with Castiel sitting on it they’re the same height. Usually he’s a little shorter than Dean. He leans in a little, his nose brushing against Castiel’s and he leans into it naturally, nose bumping against Dean’s again. It’s a stupid mistake on his part, or he thinks it is until Dean laughs softly, reacting well to it before he lifts his hand and brushes his fingers along Castiel’s jaw.

It’s not unpleasant, he supposes, even if he finds it a little odd. Dean tilts his chin up a bit and kisses him softly, pressing his lips to Castiel’s for a short time before pulling back. Castiel frowns because that seems counterintuitive to his plans so he pulls Dean back and kisses him again. It seems to go well because Dean reacts to it, sliding a hand up his thigh to his hip and gripping the material of his shirt as he kisses Castiel. His lips are soft and eager, pressing for more as Dean’s tongue runs along his bottom lip. That’s something he wouldn’t have thought he’d enjoy but it’s a nice sensation, one that makes him more indulgent in the kiss. This gets a positive reaction too, and when Castiel runs his hand down Dean’s side that earns him a small moan.

Hmm.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I may add a ninth chapter as an epilogue, but we will see.

“Dean is going to _kill_ me,” Sam says for probably the millionth time.

Gabriel snorts, “he is not, he loves you more than he loves pie and he _really_ loves pie.”

Yeah okay that’s true but _still_. “I am almost two hours _late_ Gabriel, he’ll make an exception.” Its not like Dean gives him like _any_ rules, mostly if he gets good grades Dean lets him do whatever so he’s probably not going to take this well.

“Dude, tell him you got laid. He’ll give you a hearty clap on the back and a ‘good job Sammy’ before sending you off to bed. Seriously, it’s what I’d do with Cas,” he says.

Sam gives him a _look_ because that’s so not true. Gabriel isn’t usually the protective type, he’s happy to let Dean do the punching while he does the taunting and it works for them. But with Cas? Gabriel has a single protective streak and its saved only for Castiel. Which makes Sam wonder what Gabriel would do if he ever found out about Dean’s crush on Cas that’s visible to everyone but Cas and Gabriel. Not that he’d have room to talk given their relationship but hypocrisy isn’t something a protective brother cares about. Dean sure as hell wouldn’t care. “If you found out someone slept with Cas you’d probably kill a man,” Sam tells him. “And Dean is a lot more protective than you.”

“Well don’t tell him it was _me_ , dumbass. Just let him think you’re as slutty as he is. And I wouldn’t _kill_ someone for sleeping with Castiel. If they broke his heart, _now_ we’re talking pain. And I wouldn’t kill them either, just make them wish I did.” He says it in a light, hearty tone like it’s a joke but it isn’t. He still doesn’t like Meg and she’s been friends with Cas since they were seven.

Sam shakes his head, “I’m going to be grounded for life,” he mumbles.

“Guess at least John isn’t around to do it,” Gabriel offers like that’s some kind consolation prize.

“Like I’d listen if he was.” Dean? Sam listens to him because he’s an actual parent. _He’s_ always the one that’s around consistently, _he’s_ the one who cooked Sam Thanksgiving dinner or at least he tried, and _he’s_ the one who made the effort to show up to his soccer games even though Sam sucks at soccer. All John does is abandon them in random places for a few weeks and then show back up and uproot them all over again. Or at least he had until Dean finally had enough and when Dean has enough of John Winchester’s shit he’s really gone too far. He seems to be the only person Dean takes shit from. Now the usual routine results in them being ditched for an indeterminate amount of time here while Dean pays all the bills.

Gabriel shakes his head, “you two have issues, Sammy. Just make up some lie that means you don’t get stuck sneaking out. You’re not good at it. Probably because Dean basically invented it and knows all the best routes out,” he says, grinning and wiggling his eyebrows.

Sam laughs a little, shaking his head- Dean and Gabriel spent actual _days_ finding the least noisy and effective ways out of the house. Sam remembered them all of course, but Dean always manages to catch him at the edge of the property and Sam has no idea how. He and Gabriel made sure the escape routes were in all the window’s bind spots. Honestly they both think they’re stupid and destined to do nothing their lives but they were smart enough to map twelve fool proof ways out of the house just to go get drunk. If they applied that elsewhere they’d actually do just fine in life but neither seem to want to risk failure. Or at least that’s Sam’s guess. Actually that’s mostly Dean, Gabriel is mostly just too lazy to put effort into things he doesn’t care about. That happens to be most things.

“Did you guys figure out ways to catch people sneaking out on the routes too? Because I swear Dean has bells rigged somewhere that I don’t know about,” he says. And it wouldn’t surprise him either. When Dean decides to take on a project he makes damn sure its done right and done well. Pissed his teachers right off because his projects were never the ones assigned in class. Eventually he got bored enough that he dropped out but Sam pestered him until he got his GED a few months ago.

Gabriel shrugs, “I know nothing, but honestly it wouldn’t surprise me. You know how Dean is.”

Sam gives him a _look_ ; “you know you’re his best friend, right? Just _ask_ him.”

The thought obviously hadn’t occurred to Gabriel and honestly Sam wonders how someone so smart is also that stupid. He wonders the same about Dean all the time too. “Fair point Sammy, but this is your stop. Don’t get busted sneaking back into the house,” he says, winking.

He lets out a small laugh and takes off fast, hoping to beat whatever alarms Dean probably set up all around. He makes his way up the lattice attached the small awning that almost reaches his window and walks over, shimmying his way through the open space into his room, closing the window behind him. He waits a solid five minutes for Dean, who is not waiting on his bed looking pissed off, to show up, but he doesn’t. Frowning he makes his way downstairs to grab food because he’s kind of hungry but he finds Dean rooting around in the fridge first.

He pauses there for a moment, guilt definitely written all over his features, but when Dean looks over he grins. “Sammy. You were on time, right?” he asks and Sam nods stupidly. When Dean nods and walks off with a beer and a left over burger from yesterday’s lunch without calling him on a lie so obvious _aliens_ could see it he frowns but decides not to question it.

Instead he goes and gets some left over chicken and goes back to his room before Dean grows senses again. His phone is ringing when he gets in and he sighs, knowing its Gabriel before he even picks up. No one else would be calling him this late. “I literally just left you,” he says instead of greeting him.

“Yeah well call me sentimental because I missed you. Now let me in,” he says. There’s a tapping at his window and Sam shakes his head, walking over to open it again.

“How did you even make it up that lattice? You’re scared of heights,” Sam says.

Gabriel crawls through the window faster. “Could you not remind me of that while I’m risking my life going through a window? You’re lucky I love you,” he says and it’s an offhand comment but he wonders how much Gabriel actually means it. It’s hard to tell with him.

*

Castiel eats lunch with Meg like he does every day and every day she makes fun of his food while she steals half the sandwich. It’s a comfortable routine. “You underestimated Dean’s supposed sluttiness,” he tells her.

Meg raises an eyebrow, “oh have I now? Tell me how you figured _that_ out, tiger,” she says, laughing as she bumps shoulders with him.

Where to start on that? He sighs and figures she doesn’t need the whole backstory, just the highlight reel. “Well, I had a bad day yesterday and people act like sex is natural Xanax and I’ve known Dean for years. He seemed like a logical choice,” he says.

Unsurprisingly Meg snorts, “ _that’s_ why you chose Dean? Not because he’s smoking hot and has an ass to die for? Sometimes I think people are right about you being a freak,” she tells him but he knows that’s not true. Freak or not she genuinely likes him; she’d never spend time with him if she didn’t.

“I suppose he’s attractive,” Castiel says. Dean has an appealing body shape, a nice smile, and his eye color is pretty and unusual. But Castiel genuinely doesn’t understand the utter preoccupation with his looks. Even _Dean_ has a weird obsession with it.

Meg looks at him like he’s nuts, “buddy, I _know_ you’ve got working eyes and the best thing you have to say about Dean Winchester is ‘I suppose he’s attractive’? You’re so squandering whatever you two did last night,” she mumbles, shaking her head.

Well, they did a whole lot of nothing mostly. “I got a lesson in kissing,” he tells her. Dean had at least been right about being a better kisser than Meg, and he’d been a whole lot more gentle too. Meg has always been a bit rough around the edges and her kissing style matches her personality. Dean had surprised Castiel, he figured he’d be more eager, more handsy or something but he’d been soft and gentle. He’d taken his time, carefully coaxing an actual reaction out of Castiel. He hadn’t expected that either but it hadn’t been unpleasant.

“On behalf of ninety percent of this school I am _weeping_. You _suppose_ he’s attractive? Come on Clarence, you’ve got to have a better opinion than that,” she says. He doesn’t understand her weird nickname for him but he doesn’t care enough to oppose it either. Dean had started it last year when he started to call Castiel ‘Cas’ and then everyone else took it up. Meg, he guesses, decided to go with a whole new name altogether but he calls to all three names now. Before he never used to like nicknames, Lucifer had tried when he was a kid and he had none of that, so maybe he does have some latent feelings for Dean.

There are other thoughts he has on Dean, but he’s not sure Meg will buy them. “He… doesn’t think lesser of me. Despite my clear social awkwardness among other things.” Unlike most he doesn’t think Castiel’s entire personality is a flaw, something to be fixed. He just accepts that he is the way he is, like Meg, except Castiel can’t much see himself in a relationship with Meg like he can Dean. Maybe its because she doesn’t seem like the relationship type. Dean might claim he isn’t either but Castiel can see the way he desires attachments, a family, every time he looks at Gabriel and Castiel interact. He’s close with his brother but he’s never had a stable anything with anyone, Sam included. Meg hasn’t either, but she’s okay with that. Dean, Castiel thinks, feels a profound sadness.

Meg softens a little at his explanation and sighs. “People are assholes, Cas. Don’t listen to what they have to say.”

Her answer to everything- fuck it all. But he doesn’t have the same tough exterior as she does and sure, he knows that he can’t help the way he is and most days he’s fine with that. But sometimes it’d be nice to be normal for once. “I know, Meg. But he doesn’t treat me like I’m breakable.” Not like Gabriel, not like Lucifer even.

“Neither do I, Clarence, so what gives?” she asks, head tilted to the side as she eats the other half of his sandwich.

Good question but Castiel doesn’t have an answer. He shrugs, “not sure. Do you think you’ll ever bring your own food or do you enjoy mooching off me too much?” he asks.

Meg grins, “you know I’ll never deny myself the opportunity to indulge in some free food,” she says, laughing. Castiel also knows she has no problem making things free for herself too- she claims stealing is more like liberating goods. He’s given up caring about it.

*

Dean had gotten Cas’ number, which he honestly can’t believe he hadn’t had before if for no other reason than having a second way to get ahold of Sammy given how often they spent time together. Or hell, a second way to get ahold of Gabriel given how damn unreliable he is. But he’s got it now and he has no idea what to do with it.

“Shit, son just text her and put us all out of our misery,” Bobby tells him and Jo coughs into her hand to hide the laugh. Ash doesn’t bother to hide his.

He slumps in his seat, “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he says gruffly, glaring out the door of the shop. He can hear Bobby mumbling about stubborn Winchesters under his breath as Ellen walks in.

“What’d you do now?” she asks Dean, eyeing Bobby shaking his head as he walks away.

“Nothing,” Dean tells her not that she believes it.

“That’s kind of the problem,” Ash tells her. “This dumbass has been staring at his phone all day contemplating texting some sexy lady and he hasn’t done it yet. Bobby got annoyed with his lack of game,” he says, laughing.

Oh as if, he totally has game. It just doesn’t work on Cas because he’s weird. It’s not a bad thing, Cas’ social gracelessness, but Dean sort of expected his usual flirting to work not that he’d meant to let it slip out when Gabriel wasn’t around. It went totally over Cas’ head, though. Unfortunately it hadn’t gone over Sammy’s and now he has to buy the damn kid chocolate to keep his mouth shut sometimes.

Ellen rolls her eyes, “just text her, Dean. The only one I’ve ever seen turn you down is Jo and that’s because I raised her right,” she says. Dean can feel the panic on his face and Jo looks shocked too so he knows Jo didn’t tell her. “Yeah I know about you two,” she says, “I know everything. Keep your hands to yourself,” she tells Dean.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Dean mumbles, thoroughly uninterested in Jo _permanently_. Not that his interest was more than a passing one, sure, but he’s not about to find himself on Ellen’s hit list over a passing interest.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you survived her,” Jo says to him. “You better text that girl before mom changes her mind. Have some last hurrah sex before she skins you alive.”

Yeah, so not a pleasant image. But he does send a text to Cas, not bothering to correct anyone on who it is he’s got an interest in. No one here has guessed thanks to his reputation and he’s pretty sure Sam only ever found out about the bisexual thing because he’d been around to witness that time he stupidly tried to hit on Cas. And his Dr. Sexy phase, he guesses. He’ll never admit to another living soul that he still keeps up with the show.

He’s surprised when Cas answers in a somewhat timely manner and smiles.

_Texting in class? tsk tsk._

“And look at that, she texts back,” Ash says, laughing. “‘Course we could have told you that’d happen,” he says.

_Judgment from a high school drop out? Really?_

From anyone else that’d be harsh but Cas is just… well, Cas. He’s not trying to be an ass, Dean is sure; he’s just ridiculously blunt. Like walk over to your house and ask for sex lessons blunt. He’s ninety percent sure Gabriel would probably team up with Ellen to skin him if he knew anything about that make out session with Cas. Shit, Ellen might consider herself lucky to get a knife in there given how protective Gabriel is of Cas. Its not like the guy is very protective of anything aside from his sweets stash and of course Dean has to go kiss the only thing he cares about more.

 _Hey now, I have a GED. Not all of us can handle mind numbingly boring classrooms. So, wanna come over tonight_?

Christ, how the hell is Cas even going to _take_ a proposition like that? Well, guess he’ll see.

“Hey Dean, you might want to go on an actual date before you get that dumb moony look on your face,” Jo tells him, snickering.

Dean gives her an unimpressed look but Ash frowns. “Wait, you’ve been on a date with her, right?” he asks. “Because if you haven’t you are in _way_ too deep, dude.”

He rolls his eyes, “oh what would you two know?” he mumbles. Like Jo knows much of anything about dating, she romances her knife collection more than any actual dates. And Ash mostly romances that awful haircut of his. His phone buzzes and he looks down at it.

_For what, exactly?_

Shit, why did Cas have to do that? Couldn’t he have just assumed like a normal person? Okay, maybe he only wanted Cas to spell it out to stave the potential rejection but still.

 _You’ve got a sex ed lesson to continue. Assuming you’re still interested_.

He’s ninety percent sure he’s never that grammatically correct in texts but whatever. Cas probably wouldn’t notice anyways and there’s no damn way he’d understand all the emojis he sends to Gabriel in place of words. Ninety percent of the time they communicate exclusively in emoji. They’ve gotten good enough at it that they can make movie references with the emojis too. Sam has told him on multiple occasions that its all visual gibberish but Dean and Gabriel think its fun.

“Oh, he looks nervous,” Ash says to Jo. “Must have asked for a date.” Yeah, he didn’t need the reminder of that, thanks.

Dean flips him off and Ash flips him off affectionately back.

_Great. I’ll make some excuse to Gabriel and come over after dinner._

“And he got a yes,” Jo says. “Score for Dean!”

Hell yeah, score for him. There’s about a million things he wants to teach Cas, most lifted straight from a year’s worth of fantasies, but he’ll hold off on that a little for now. For now he’s going to savor this, draw it out as long as possible because he’s never really been above being a selfish prick.

*

Gabriel is distracted so lying to him is easy, and when Lucifer tries to ask where he’s going Castiel tells him he’s not a parent so he should stop pretending to be one. He reacts best to rebellion, which is odd, but Castiel will take it. Raph probably would have tried to send him to a bible camp to pray rebellion away or something. Though if it didn’t work on Lucifer he doubts it’ll work on him.

He makes his way over to Dean’s, sneaking into the house the way he’s watched Gabriel and Dean sneak out a million times. When he walks into the kitchen Sam turns around and almost drops his food. “Jesus Christ!” he yells, jumping. “Where did you come from?”

Dean all but runs into the room looking prepared to fight but drops his guard when he spots Castiel. “You do know I’ve watched you sneak in and out a million and one times, right?” he asks.

“Well can’t you give a guy a warning, wear a bell or something,” Sam tells him.

Castiel frowns at the thought of wearing a bell like some kind of house pet but leaves it alone. “Technically Dean knew I was going to be here so if he didn’t warn you that’s his fault,” he says.

Sam turns to Dean, who huffs out a sigh and looks away sheepishly. “I mean yeah but I thought he’d use the door like a normal person,” he mumbles in his own defense.

“No thanks, I’d rather not have Gabriel spot me here. Or Lucifer,” he adds. Sam gives him a dirty look for bringing him up but its not Castiel’s fault Lucifer has no morals and kissed Sam one time, its not Sam’s fault either. From what Sam told him it was mutual at least at the time and he didn’t ask what made that arrangement go sour on account of being happy that Sam was no longer involved in any way with Lucifer. Of all his brothers that’s probably the only one Castiel wouldn’t recommend anyone date. Even Raphael would appeal to _someone_ but Lucifer should keep to himself. Especially if the results are him perusing _Sam_ , who is an inappropriate choice for a huge amount of reasons.

“Lucifer can kiss my ass,” Dean mumbles. “Now come on, I’ve got plans,” he says, grinning. Sam frowns at them, looking between them suspiciously.

“What the hell is going on here?” he asks.

“None of your business,” Dean tells him but that’s as good as telling Sam straight out that they have a relationship.

“Uh huh. I now have a curfew of whenever the hell I want to come home or I out you to Gabriel,” Sam says, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Dean a hard look. Castiel frowns at that because it seems like an odd request.

Dean looks over at Castiel like _he’s_ outted them somehow but he’s hardly the one who spends entirely way too much time with his brother. “Hell no,” Dean tells Sam.

Sam pulls out his phone, not breaking eye contact as he unlocks it and calls Gabriel. “You might want to call his bluff,” Castiel tells Dean.

“Yeah, Gabriel. You’ll never guess what I just found out,” Sam says, still holding eye contact with Dean. It clicks for Castiel then- Sam wants the unlimited curfew so he can sneak out with Gabriel. Castiel squints at Sam, unsure if he knows Castiel knows about him and Gabriel. Of course he does, Gabriel is not well known for subtlety, and frankly neither is Sam. But it is an odd threat considering Castiel has just as much ammo if Sam wants to play that game. He files it away for later though, when he might have a better use for it.

“Fuck, fine, whatever,” Dean hisses, “hang up the fucking phone!” Sam does, smiling as he does so.

“Break my brother’s heart and I’m obligated to hurt you,” Sam tells him, clapping him on the shoulder before walking off.

Dean stares after him. “I’m going to kick his ass for that,” he mumbles. “Whatever, I’ll smack him silly later. Come on Cas, we’ve got work to do,” Dean tells him, grinning.

He follows Dean down to his room, curious about what today will entail. “So Cas,” Dean says, turning around and smiling at him cockily. “What experience do you have, exactly?” Not much, just some experimentation with Meg mostly. He tells Dean as much- hence him asking Dean for a little help in this particular area. That and Meg is obviously a different experience than Dean. “Show me, then,” Dean tells him and he raises an eyebrow.

“ _Show_ you?” he asks.

Dean gives him another smile, long and slow, “yeah, show me. Do your worst, angel,” he says. Castiel almost asks about that, ‘angel’, but thinks his name makes the reference pretty obvious. Though technically the angel he’s named after is ‘Cassiel’ not that he ever corrects people.

He takes a tentative step forward, unsure of himself and a touch self-conscious. This had been easier with Meg. She might be more than happy to point out where he’s gone wrong but they’ve been friends forever. Dean… is experienced, which was part of Castiel’s decision making, but he didn’t think Dean would make him wing it. He’s never been that great at winging it. “Well don’t take all day,” Dean says, grinning.

He takes a breath and looks away for a moment. “This is going to be awkward,” he says finally but Dean laughs.

“Yeah Cas, I know that. I don’t really care either, but knowing what you know gives me a little bit of a better basis to teach you from, don’t you think?” he asks and okay, that makes sense. “I can deal with a little awkwardness, Cas, come on.”

Okay. This isn’t much how he imagined things but he can deal with it. He takes another step forward, pausing for a moment before deciding screw it; he might as well just take the plunge. He walks up to Dean, stopping for only a moment before he pushes Dean backwards lightly until he hits the dresser behind him. He lets out a small huff of laughter, head tilted to the side as he examines Castiel. Castiel looks him over too, admiring the cut of his figure. He is attractive, just not the way everyone seems to say he is. But Castiel knows he sees things differently than most, always has.

“I’ve thought about this for a while,” he murmurs, saying that aloud mostly impulsively. The way Dean licks his lips as his breath hitches tells him he’s at least on the right track. He runs his hand down Dean’s torso, fingers trailing lightly until he hits the edge of Dean’s jeans. Meg had tried that on him and he thought it was pleasant. Dean finds it a lot more pleasant than he had. “I probably could have asked Meg for the sex lesson, its not like she isn’t willing, but I chose you instead,” he tells Dean.

He’s been reliably informed that people like being the first choice. From the way Dean grins at him goofily he’s not an exception. “Why?” Dean asks, voice a little breathy.

Shit, how’s he supposed to answer that in a sexy way? His choice had been entirely pragmatic. He distracts Dean by lifting his shirt a little, running a hand along his stomach to his hip. It gets him a good reaction. “I like the way you look at me,” he says eventually. That seems… acceptable, passable even. “Also, he murmurs, “I like the way you look.”

‘Like the way you look’? Gabriel would be disappointed in his attempts at being sexy. Why is he thinking about his _brother_ right now? He suspects most people who had someone who looks like he walked out of a men’s fashion magazine pinned to a dresser would not be thinking of their brothers.

“Cas,” Dean murmurs and he looks up, “can I kiss you?” he asks.

He shrugs, “that’s fine,” he says, eyes flicking down to Dean’s lips. They’re pretty, and always a soft shade of pink that Castiel likes. Dean smiles a little and leans forward, brushing his lips against Castiel’s softly for a moment. He pulls back a little and Castiel makes a grumpy noise. What kind of kiss was _that_? And what’s this supposed to teach him?

Dean laughs, “patience is a virtue, you know,” he murmurs.

“Patience is for assholes,” Castiel mumbles back, leaning into Dean and kissing him again, this time with purpose.

*

There’s probably about fifty fantasies he has where Cas has him tied up somewhere and has his way with him but he never thought any of them would come true. Now Dean has a lap full of Cas and he’s got one of his arms pinned over his head while Cas nips at his jaw and neck. “You know,” Cas murmurs into his ear and _that_ has no business being that attractive, “I didn’t take you for the type to like being pinned down.”

He huffs out a laugh, “who says I do?” he asks, grinning up at Castiel as he pulls back a little. Cas looks down at him, tilting his head to the side in that odd way he does when he’s trying to figure something out. He smiles a little as he shifts back, fingers trailing down the arm he doesn’t have pinned above Dean’s head. He’s currently got his hand curled around the underside of Cas’ thigh but when Cas’ fingers reach his wrist he pulls Dean’s hand away. His fingers close around his wrist and he pulls Dean’s arm up, pinning it with his other arm. Dean shifts a little, breath hitching because yeah okay, that’s pretty hot- especially with Cas leaning over him like that looking pleased with himself, weight pressing Dean’s wrists further into the mattress. His newfound confidence makes it all the better, even if its obviously experimental.

“Is this the kind of thing you like? Being pinned down? What other surprises do you have in there?” Cas murmurs, head tilted to the side again. Shit, he’s got a whole pile of fantasies that might shock Cas and probably everyone else he knows. “You could probably save me some guess work and tell me, I could probably fulfill a wish or two,” he says.

“I think you fulfilled about five in that sentence alone,” Dean whispers.

Cas frowns a little, “well, that wasn’t particularly difficult,” he says, carefully transferring one of Dean’s wrists to his one hand, pinning them both down that way, crossed over each other.

“This is kind of biblical,” he says, letting out a soft laugh. Not his finest moment, but in his defense Castiel _is_ named after an angel. And the way Cas is looking at him is kind of making his brain malfunction a little.

Cas laughs too, “oh you’re no Jesus,” he tells Dean, carefully tracing his fingers along Dean’s clavicle. He traces the bone until he gets to the hallow of Dean’s throat and then he traces over that too. Dean swallows hard, tilting his head back to give Cas better access to his neck but he doesn’t expect him to wrap his hand around it. He sure as fuck doesn’t expect to like it either. “Point proven,” Cas murmurs, fingers tightening a little.

The fuck did Meg teach him? Dean kind of wants to learn too.


	3. Chapter 3

Meg laughs, “you _choked_ Dean Winchester? Damn, Clarence,” she says, bumping their shoulders. ‘Choke’ might be an excessive term for it, but its not exactly inaccurate either.

Castiel frowns, “is it normal to draw some kind of enjoyment out of that?” he asks. That’s never even occurred to him before, but Dean was spread out under him, pinned down and he… liked it, the way Dean looked up at him, powerless. And when he tilted his head back… He’s been itching to try that again. Frankly he has no idea what possessed him to do it in the first place. But Dean’s neck was there, and he’d tilted his head back like he was silently handing over permission and Castiel swears it was like some kind of instinctive click in his head that made it seem like a good idea. To be fair Dean clearly liked it too.

“Sure it is, hot stuff. Ever heard of kinks?” she asks. He doesn’t think that’s an actual question but he actually has no working knowledge of the word.

“I’ve heard jokes about it,” he says. Mostly from Gabriel and in the weirdest of contexts.

For a moment Meg stares at him, expectant. “Wait, you actually don’t know, do you?” she asks and he shrugs. She makes a face, “who the fuck raised you?”

He frowns, “a highly religious pastor who named all my siblings after angels. What makes you think I’d know anything about anything?” he asks. It’s not like his mom had been _less_ devout and asking your brothers for a sex talk seems awkward and entirely unwanted from all parties. He already tries to resist hearing any and all references of sex out of Gabriel with no success at all.

“They named one of their kids ‘Lucifer’,” Meg says, frowning.

“Lucifer was an angel. He used to be god’s favorite but then you know the rest. Of course my Lucifer was never my family’s favorite, that honor goes to Raphael.” He’s always had a stick up his ass, as Gabriel put it, but he best fit the model of success his parents laid out for them. Funny, then, that he’s the adopted one.

“I can’t believe you- Clarence, we are skipping class and getting you a kinky education so you can sex it up with Dean Winchester. You have to give me the dirty details, though,” she tells him, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Do you actually think I’d enjoy this stuff?” he asks.

She shrugs, “most people enjoy a little bit of it anyways now come on. Color me curious- I’ve always wanted to corrupt an angel.”

He’s no angel and frankly he resents the comparison even if it’s a natural and obvious one thanks to his name, but he does go off with her to do her research. Its rare that he gets feelings like this one, where something about the situation seems right and that he should pursue it. If nothing else maybe he’ll finally be able to figure out Gabriel’s ridiculous jokes.

*

Meg’s advice was to picture Dean in the positions the subs in the pictures were and there’s lots that doesn’t do much for him, but there’s a lot more that does. Normally he’s not really… titillated by much, if anything. He sees the way people trip all over themselves to try and figure out relationships, sex. Castiel has never felt the need though he has felt curious, hence seeking Dean out for a sex lesson, and asking Meg for a few pointers before. He’d wanted to see what the big deal was and so far he’s not impressed. Sure, Dean is attractive, and sure, he enjoys their time together but its not the touching or kissing that stuck in his mind, its Dean pinned to his bed.

He tilts his head to the side, imagining Dean kneeling at his feet, hands bound in front of him, compliant, and he licks his lips with something akin to desire. The feeling is completely foreign to him, but he recognizes it from the way everyone else talks about it. Sexual desire and something else he has no name for. He doesn’t think it’s nearly as strong as other people describe it, but its there when he imagines what it’d be like to stand over Dean tied up and at his mercy.

Maybe Lucifer wasn’t the one with the crazy gene after all. He’s still not convinced this is any kind of normal, but Dean had reacted well to it too. What are the chances two people would be the same kind of crazy together?

“Little brother,” Gabriel says from his doorway and Castiel jumps, nearly dropping his laptop on the floor. “Shit, did I catch you watching porn or something?” he asks, snickering because he knows how unlikely that is. It had come up in an unfortunate conversation once and it had been awkward.

And, well, technically no one is naked. “No,” he half lies and Gabriel wrinkles his nose.

“Oh dude, I did _not_ need to know- since when the hell do you look at porn? I thought you were one of those freaks that didn’t like it,” he says, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

He doesn’t, not normally though he’s got a few ideas now. “Well you were the one who walked in here without knocking. And I _don’t_ like porn, I don’t understand the appeal,” he says honestly. None of it feels natural to him, like its all staged and not even well at that. Movies manage to make even the most insane of things feel real and porn can’t manage the same? Castiel doesn’t understand that.

“If you weren’t looking at porn what the hell _were_ you looking at, little brother? You jumped pretty good so I caught your hand in some kind of cookie jar,” Gabriel says, walking over. He tries to hide the laptop but Gabriel gets to it first, snatching it away and wrinkling his nose immediately. “You said it wasn’t porn!” he accuses.

Castiel snatches his computer back. “First of all its not porn. Second of all if you didn’t want to be scarred for life than you shouldn’t have stolen the computer. You did this to yourself,” Castiel tells him. Damn brothers.

“Who the hell are you planning on tying up, Cassie? Because if it’s Meg I do _not_ approve,” he says.

He certainly wouldn’t approve of Dean either but Castiel doesn’t care about that. “Who I tie up is none of your business,” he tells Gabriel. And like he should judge, Castiel isn’t a total moron- he _knows_ Gabriel has been messing around with Sam.

“Who you _what_?” someone else adds from the doorway. Castiel and Gabriel look over and find Lucifer standing in the doorway grinning like Castiel has just handed him the best blackmail material of the century. Which he decidedly has _not_. “Cassie, what have you gotten yourself into?” he asks with this ridiculous self-satisfied look on his face that Castiel wants to smack off.

“Fuck off,” Castiel tells him, earning a shocked look from Gabriel. “What? You think I’m going to indulge you all in my sexual fantasies?” he asks. He barely even _has_ any to indulge. And the sex is… secondary even in this.

“Fuck, no thank you, keep that shit to yourself,” Gabriel tells him. “Bad enough I was stupid enough to think you weren’t looking at porn.”

Lucifer raises an eyebrow, “porn?” he asks, laughing. “And the youngest finally corrupts. I knew it was only a matter of time- you’re rebellious in there somewhere, Castiel, I can feel it.”

He squints, “for watching porn? Ninety percent of the planet does that and the remaining ten percent are either children or people with no access to the internet. That’s hardly a rebellious act,” he points out. If anything it’s playing into that status quo Lucifer rails against all the time.

“Please, in this house anything fun was a fucking sin. Good for you, Cassie,” he says.

“Don’t call me that,” he yells to Lucifer as he walks away.

“Do you ever wish sometimes Raph took us in instead?” Gabriel asks.

Castiel sighs, “all the time. At least he remembers groceries and doesn’t make weird comments about our non porn habits,” he says. Or kiss people that are _way_ too young for him. What Sam had been thinking Castiel doesn’t know or care, what _Lucifer_ had been thinking baffles him even more. As far as he can tell it was a one off thing but its still creepy.

“Cas, I hate to be the one to tell you but that is definitely porn,” Gabriel says.

He rolls his eyes, “its bondage, Gabriel. There’s nothing inherently sexual about that.”

*

Dean is trying to enjoy his burger while Jo throws rolled up napkins at him when Cas texts. He pulls out his phone and looks at the message, almost choking on his burger when he does.

_Have you ever tried bondage? We should try that_

“What’d your new girlfriend say that’s got you looking like that?” Jo asks, laughing as she tosses another napkin his way.

He grins at her, “she wants to try bondage,” he says and she wrinkles her nose, not having anticipated an actual answer.

“Best shit you’ll ever try man, go for gold!” Ash tells him, giving him a thumbs up. Dean snorts and texts Cas back.

_Sounds damn good. Who’s being trussed up?_

“Man, you two are nasty,” Jo tells them, shaking her head.

“You asked,” Dean points out.

“You should try it out some time, you might be surprised,” Ash tells her.

_You, obviously. I’m not the one who enjoys being pinned down_

Christ, reading the text makes his mouth go dry. How does Cas just _say_ stuff like that? And he doesn’t know what effect he has either, which almost makes it hotter. He licks his lips and fires off a text back, including an invitation to come over later. Cas takes him up on it and, god help him, tells him he has plans. His next response is a fucking picture of tied hands and Dean nearly drops his phone and his food.

Jo gives him a look, “dude, don’t sext at work.”

Ash makes a face, “gotta say I’m with Jo on this. Unless you’re in the bathroom, then you know, when in Rome,” he says. Jo squints at him and yeah, Dean wouldn’t jerk it in there either and he’s not well known for his standards.

“I’m not sexting at work,” Dean mumbles at them.

_Jesus Cas. Don’t send shit like that when I’m at work_

_What are they going to do? Fire you because you have a picture of tied hands on your screen_?

He swears he can hear Cas’ sarcastic tone too and rolls his eyes. Cas tends to be lost on most things at least fifty percent of the time but he would have assumed this was obvious. He really should give up on assuming things are obvious to Cas- the only things that are obvious to him aren’t obvious to anyone else.

 _Dude, no one likes to pop a boner at work man. Save the sexy shit for when I’m off the clock_.

Of course thanks to Cas’ damn message he’s distracted all day and Bobby banishes him to the office with Ellen, who’s also resentful of her presence there so they do little more than make each other miserable for the rest of the day. None of them like doing it, but _someone_ has to get the paperwork done.

*

Castiel considers his materials- none of them particularly good but all of them workable. He’s done a lot of reading, and had a few lengthy conversations with Meg, so he’s got something of a plan that he hopes Dean plays along with. Of all the times he’s heard people talk about sex and desire he’s never understood any of it and even his experiences, however lacking they may be, haven’t much lived up to their reputation. He knows the sort of heavy petting he’s done mostly with Meg makes people want more, but all it does to him is give him a sense of accomplishment when he manages to get a positive reaction.

This though, there’s a different appeal for this. It’s probably the first time Castiel has naturally developed any kind of interest in anything related to sex and it’s not even the sex itself that excites him. He’s sure that’ll be a pleasant bonus, but it’s having someone at his mercy that holds his attention.

When Dean walks into his room he jumps a little, “Jesus Cas, give a guy a warning,” he tells him.

He ignores that, more concerned with how the hell he’s supposed to bring all this up. “I’ve been reading,” he says eventually because that seems like a good place to start.

Dean grins, “yeah, so I gathered. And Gabriel filled me in a little. Color me curious angel, what got you into _bondage_?” he asks. He looks delighted at this, so Castiel decides that’s at least a good thing.

“Well,” he murmurs softly, “when I had you spread out across your bed, arms over your head I think it may have triggered some latent desires. I rather liked being in control.” There’s a whole lot more he thinks he’ll like too, if he gets the chance to try it. If not there’s always Meg, he supposes.

“Yeah?” Dean asks, voice dipping lower an octave. Desire, he’s heard it in Meg’s voice often enough to identify it in others. “What exactly are these desires?”

Castiel walks forward with purpose, shooing Dean out of his doorway and closing the door before turning around. “On you knees,” he tells Dean, who frowns a little. “Now,” he adds when Dean doesn’t move. Dean shrugs a little to himself, Castiel is sure, and sinks down. Castiel admires him on the ground, eyes cast naturally down like he’d been born for the position, legs spread a little. He reaches out, running his fingers through Dean’s short hair, “give my your hands, wrists together,” he tells Dean.

He does it too, offering up his wrists to Castiel no questions asked. Castiel admires that for a moment too, Dean with his head bowed, holding his wrists up to him. He’s stunning like this, even in those ugly flannels of his. This is an image that will stick in Castiel’s mind for a long time, he’s sure of it. He leaves Dean like that for a moment and he can hear that Dean twists a little to watch him. He decides to allow it, he’d be curious too.

His materials are lacking but when he looks them over his choice, at least to him, is obvious. When he walks back over Dean still has his hands in the air, wrists together. “You kept them held up for me,” he murmurs, “thank you.” He allows himself a small moment of admiration before he lifts the tie and wraps it around Dean’s wrists. It’s not a great knot; if he had something better than a tie it would probably look better but sadly resources are limited. The actual rope he has probably wouldn’t look much better.

He’s ninety percent sure his parents put him in boy scouts to try and socialize him- didn’t work- but now he finds the lesson in knots useful for a different reason. And Gabriel thought he’d only ever use those knots on the booby traps he used to construct to try and keep him and Raphael out of his room and the one time he managed to tie Raph to the picnic table and left him there. Needless to say Raph had not been impressed but Castiel remembers the satisfaction he got leaving Raph tied there. He was always on the receiving end of his brother’s shenanigans and for once at least one of _them_ got to suffer.

Something tells Castiel that his parents wouldn’t have seen this coming. Hell, he’s been himself for seventeen, nearly eighteen, whole years and _he_ didn’t see this coming. “Take a look,” Castiel tells him, stepping back. Dean takes his hands back slowly, looking at the tie around his wrists and he lets out a small laugh.

“Is this the tie you used to wear to _church_?” he asks and Castiel shrugs.

“I stopped going to church years ago. This seemed like a much better use for it,” he says. Raphael has lost his mind when Castiel stopped going, which had irritated him because he hadn’t cared when it was Gabriel. He claimed Lucifer was a bad influence but truthfully Castiel never bought into church anyways. God, he believes in god, but the church structure? That’s man made and its far too flawed for him to care much for it. Plus the idea of a god that takes attendance truly is baffling.

Of all the ways he could have repurposed the tie, though, this seems like the most appropriate use for it. And that dark blue against Dean’s lightly tanned skin is a beautiful combination, especially with his hands resting lightly between his thighs. Castiel licks his lips, considering Dean for a moment when he speaks.

“So uh, what comes next?” he asks, looking up at Castiel.

“Eyes down,” he says easily and Dean listens right away. Castiel doesn’t know how to describe the feeling but he likes it, that little blossom of pleasure in his heart and gut. Hmm. “And that’s for me to know and you to find out. On your bed,” he tells Dean.

He has no idea _what_ possessed Dean to crawl over to it especially with his hands tied- its inefficient and ridiculous- but Castiel decides instantly that that should be Dean’s primary mode of transportation. He watches as Dean crawls over to his bed, struggling a little thanks to the tied hands, and then crawls onto it. Frankly it has no right to be that appealing but Castiel decides he’s going to explore that further later.

Instead he walks over and runs a hand up the outside of Dean’s thigh, “you look pretty on your hands and knees crawling for me,” he tells him and Dean’s breath hitches. “You could have walked, that would have made more sense, but your choice was a better one,” he murmurs.

“I live to serve,” Dean says somewhat flippantly but Castiel likes that too.

“You will when I’m done with you,” Castiel tells him. “Now shimmy up further on the bed.” Dean listens and Castiel grabs the rope he decided not to use on Dean’s wrists. The tie isn’t long enough for what he has in mind. He walks to Dean’s headboard, picking up Dean’s tied hands along the way and pulling them above his head. He ties them to the headboard while Dean watches.

“Where’d you learn how to tie knots like that?” Dean asks.

“I used to be a boy scout,” he says and Dean lets out a breathy laugh.

“Wow, we are _really_ perverting your childhood today, huh?” he murmurs. There’s that edge in his voice too, the one that lets Castiel know he’s aroused. He hadn’t thought of it the way Dean had but he’s happy to let Dean’s imagination fill in the blanks he’s leaving. He’s got a much better imagination than Meg.

“To be fair,” Castiel tells him, “I never was very innocent.” You don’t hang out with Meg Masters for eleven years and come out innocent. He got into plenty of things well before age appropriate ages, including a fair amount of horror that Meg loves and Castiel tolerates though he is partial to slashers, especially if they take place around Halloween. And the rest, well, Meg will be Meg.

Dean grins up at him, “yeah, I’m starting to get that,” he says.

He tilts his head to the side, “you aren’t getting anything yet,” he tells Dean. “Actually you aren’t getting anything I don’t want to give you. This is my show, you’re just along for the ride.”

“ _Fuck_ , Cas,” Dean breathes out, eyes wide and trained on Castiel. He tilts his head to the side, examining Dean with a strange amount of confidence. The usual awkwardness he carries is mostly gone, which is curious, but perhaps due to Castiel knowing exactly what he wants out of this interaction. It’s easier to be confident in something when you know what you want, he supposes.

“You like that, hmm? Being told what I’m going to do to you?” he asks. Dean nods a little, craning his neck some to look at him. He hums softly, running his fingertips up the inside of Dean’s thigh, stopping just before he reaches anything important. Dean lets out a soft noise of pleasure as he spreads his legs wider that Castiel decides he likes that too. Isn’t Dean full of surprises today- like the gift that keeps on giving. “You’re going to cooperate with me,” he tells Dean. “You’ll do what I tell you when I tell you to do it. Repeat that back.”

“I’ll do what you want when you want,” Dean says and Castiel gets that feeling again, that bone deep satisfaction but this time is drives him forward. He climbs onto Dean’s bed, swinging one leg over Dean’s hips so he’s straddling him.

Castiel runs his fingers down Dean’s jaw, “I knew you would,” he says. “Or at least I hoped you would. Usually you’re not very cooperative with anyone but to be honest that’s kind of the appeal.” He grins, “you know, I’ve had people tell me my whole life that they’ve always wanted to corrupt an angel. But, as I said, I never was very innocent. I’ve always hated that stereotype, that I was somehow untouched by the world because I was named after a heavenly creature. So Dean, how do you feel about putting those stereotypes to the test, hmm? Ever wanted to be corrupted by an angel?” he asks, head tilted to the side.

He doesn’t even need Dean’s response to that, he’s got his answer resting against his backside but Dean gives him a soft, “ _hell_ yeah,” anyways.

Meg might have her problems, but he has to admit that’s a good line and it got a great reaction too. Maybe her idea for a script wasn’t such a bad plan after all. Maybe that’s where some of this confidence is coming from. Maybe its because Dean is reacting so well. He’s not intent on looking the gift horse in the mouth.

Curiously Castiel gives a curious test wiggle against Dean’s erection and he lets out a small moan, lifting his hips to get a little more friction. Castiel considers letting it go but eventually decides against it. He _did_ tell Dean this was his show and that he was only along for the ride. Time to show him what that means. He lifts himself enough to plant his hands on Dean’s hips, pushing him back into his mattress. “What did I tell you before about this being my show?” he asks. “Try that again and I’ll figure out some way to punish you on short notice. You’re here because I want to satisfy my curiosity, not because I give a damn about your pleasure,” he tells Dean.

That’s about as far from the truth as it could get- Castiel has little interest in sex himself, but he does have something of a vested curiosity in how sex works for Dean. And he definitely has an interest in whatever the rest of this is- BDSM, kink, whatever you call it. But he likes the thought of Dean thinking he’s subject to Castiel’s whims, his flight of fancy. It’s not… not quite a power trip he supposes, but it is something, some kind of need or deep-seated want pulling him forward.

“Damn,” Dean murmurs. “You got all this from pinning me down?”

No, he got all this from reading materials and Meg. “I have a vivid imagination, Dean,” he tells him before settling back down onto Dean’s hips. He gives another test wiggle and Dean lets out another soft moan, this time keeping his hips in place even though his hands clench a little in their bonds. He moves again and Dean’s eyelids flutter a bit as he bites his lip. Well, that’s cute.

“Shit angel, color me curious- what else is that vivid imagination of yours hiding?” Dean asks.

Castiel lifts Dean’s shirt a little, eyeing the bonds tying him to the bed. He sees his mistake now but he’ll work with it. “That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Castiel murmurs, lifting his shirt a little higher and running his hands over Dean’s tawny skin. He must work out given his figure though Castiel has never seen him do it and given his diet its shocking he hasn’t dropped dead of a heart attack. He eats worse than Gabriel and that’s honestly an accomplishment.

“Aw come on,” Dean almost whines, “give a guy a hint.”

Hmm. He supposes he can do that though he’ll damn well do it on his own time, not Dean’s. He lifts Dean’s shirt higher and raises an eyebrow, “you have a tattoo?” He’s never seen it before and he’s seen Dean shirtless plenty of times. It must be somewhat new.

“Yeah I uh, got it a few months ago,” Dean tells him. Hmm, well that’s interesting. He traces his fingers over Dean’s chest, across his ribs. He really is stunning like this, tied and underneath Castiel. For a long moment he considers Dean, keeping still just to test if Dean will try and shift his hips again but he doesn’t. Castiel thinks its strange that he reacts more to that knowledge, that Dean only had to be told once what he wanted, than Dean’s body on full display for him but he supposes he’s always been a little strange. When he finishes his consideration he leans down and runs his tongue over Dean’s stomach, nipping at the skin there afterwards. Dean takes a sharp breath in and Castiel shifts again and leans into his neck, sucking at the skin there. Dean tilts his head to the side immediately to give him more access and, unexpectedly, he moans softly into Dean’s neck.

“Yeah, Cas,” Dean says in a low, throaty tone.

Castiel nips at the now bruised skin on Dean’s neck, “there’s your hint, Winchester. Now be patient,” he tells Dean. He can feel Dean nod a little as he kisses his way down Dean’s neck again before pulling back some. Dean lets out a small, grumpy noise at the loss but Castiel ignores him, shifting off Dean’s body instead.

“Cas,” Dean says, lifting his head to see what’s going on.

“Shush,” Castiel tells him, “I have plans.” His shirt is still ridden up around his chest, and his jeans sit low on his hips. He wonders how many people have had Dean like this, how many of them thought his body enough was attractive. Its still Dean’s hands tied to his headboard and him following Castiel’s instructions that hold his attention over his body. But his body certainly isn’t a bad second place in the running for Castiel’s attention. He considers his options, weighing his inexperience against his curiosity before deciding to throw caution to the wind.

Dean certainly isn’t uninterested at the moment, he’s clearly doing something right, so he might as well experiment further. He settles his hands on Dean’s hips, stroking his hipbones with his thumbs. It’s a strange part of the body to find attractive but Castiel likes the way they look under his hands. Carefully he pulls his hands back, fingers tracing the edge of Dean’s pants until he gets to the button of his jeans. Dean’s breath hitches and he swears under his breath. “Is this what you want?” Castiel asks, unbuttoning his jeans.

“ _Fuck_ , yeah, Cas,” Dean tells him.

“Hmm,” Castiel murmurs, “maybe I should make you wait.” Dean shifts then, making an impatient noise. “Keep that up and I’ll make you wait forever,” he tells Dean. “And I wouldn’t underestimate my determination in making it torture for you.” What was it he read about that seemed intriguing to him? Orgasm denial, that’s it. It certainly sounds like it’d be more work for Dean to keep himself from coming than Castiel. Any orgasms he’s had were purely exploratory and frankly not as awesome as everyone else seems to think they are. Pleasant, sure, but life shatteringly amazing? That’s dramatic.

“Cas,” Dean whines again and Castiel sighs, fingers trailing over Dean’s bulge. Dean lets out a small whimper in response.

“I’m going to blow you,” he decides. He’s never tried that and he has no damn clue how its going to go, but that was one of the things on the list he had made before coming to Dean. It’s hardly his fault Dean was taking forever to get to the point; he might as well get there himself. And from the moan Dean lets out he’s not opposed to his plans by any stretch of the imagination.

He carefully unzips Dean’s jeans, pulling them down a little with the help of Dean’s shifted hips. If not for the situation Castiel might have found Dean’s heart boxers somewhat amusing. As it is he ignores them as he pulls Dean’s erection from the boxers, carefully running his hand along the length of it. Dean’s back arches as his head tips back and he moans, “ _Cas_.”

He hadn’t expected himself to react to that but he shivers a little, pleased that he’s pleasing Dean he supposes. Regardless, he likes the feeling. He continues to stroke Dean steadily, taking pleasure in the noises of happiness Dean makes as one of his legs curls up beside Castiel. He can tell that Dean is trying to keep still even if he’s doing a piss poor job at it but Castiel likes it so he decides to release Dean from his previous duty to keep his hips still.

“I like you like this,” Castiel tells him. “Spread out, willing. And I like the noises you make too so please, by all means, keep this up.”

“Yes, Cas,” Dean murmurs even though he didn’t need to answer. Castiel shivers again, pleased by the thought of Dean following his orders.

That’s something he’s going to explore later. For now though he examines Dean’s penis. Its not like he’s seen an abundant of them, mostly just his own and a few in various porn videos he’s watched but it doesn’t seem so complicated. He’s sure he can manage a simple blowjob; he suspects it’s not any more difficult than his trigonometry homework. So he leans in, pausing for only for a moment before he leans in and licks the head. Dean whimpers underneath him so he thinks he’s done something right there.

Curiously he licks up the underside of the shaft too, earning an outright moan from Dean. Hmm, well he supposes this isn’t too difficult thus far. Deciding he might as well go all in he takes Dean into his mouth, careful to keep his teeth out of the way. He doesn’t need to be interested in blowjobs to know teeth and dicks probably don’t mix well. Above him Dean swears again as Castiel moves carefully, testing the movements.

Frankly its sloppy work and involves more drool than anticipated but Dean seems to enjoy himself if his consistent tugging at his restraints are any indication. Castiel doesn’t care much for the activity itself- the taste is strange, and it’s messy so the appeal at least for the giver is totally lost on him but it’s not unpleasant either. Just not something he’d go out of his way to do if not for Dean pulling at his restraints, chanting his name over and over again.

 _That_ , Castiel enjoys. He likes that Dean is pulling at the ropes, that he wants to touch Castiel but he can’t because Castiel made that impossible. He likes the control he has over Dean’s reactions, and he _really_ likes the way Dean keeps moaning his name like he’s the best thing in the world. He’s found a comfortable pace that seems to agree with Dean too if his legs half curled around Castiel are any indication. He’d been right to predict that its not difficult work, but its not easy either, at least not according to his jaw.

“Cas,” Dean murmurs, “I’m… I’m-” words seem to fail him but Castiel understands anyways and pulls off.

“You don’t get to come until I damn well tell you to,” he tells Dean, who whines.

“But,” Dean starts and Castiel gives him a dirty look when he lifts his head to look at him.

“Not until I tell you to, Dean,” he says before he resituates himself between Dean’s legs. He teases him a little, licking at he head like he had when he first started this and Dean whimpers a little. Castiel finds the taste of precum entirely unappealing but he ignores it for Dean’s sake. He licks at it again, getting another soft moan out of Dean.

“Cas,” he murmurs. “Please, Cas.” He shifts his hips a little but Castiel pulls back, a thought popping into his head with Dean’s plea.

“Beg for it,” Castiel tells him, ears suddenly alert for Dean’s words as he takes Dean back into his mouth.

“Fuck, Cas, please. Please let me- _oh_ , yeah like that, _just_ like that- let me come,” Dean asks, back arching.

Holy _hell_ that’s hit some kind of correct combination of buttons for Castiel. His mind is buzzing a little with anticipation, ears sharply listening to Dean’s pleasure. “Cas _please_ , I need to- I have to- _please_ , angel,” he says and Castiel pulls away at that.

Dean makes a small noise of displeasure that Castiel chooses to ignore, “you can come now, Dean,” he says, spurred on by, of all things, being called ‘angel’. Its not the first time Dean has said it, but Castiel decides he rather likes it. Dean reacts to his words basically immediately, letting out a long string of swear words as he arches his back off the mattress, head pressed back into his pillow with his mouth open in a soft ‘O’.

Castiel watches with a somewhat detached curiosity because orgasms are never like this for him. Whatever it is that’s the difference between him and Dean seems to make all the difference really. He doesn’t mind.

“Uh hey, are you guys done?” a familiar voice calls through the door.

Dean shoots a grossed out look at the door, “oh my _god_ Sammy, how long have you been standing there listening?” he asks. Castiel wrinkles his nose.

“Shut up Dean, it doesn’t matter _where_ I stand you’re fucking loud. I could hear you over my music blasting upstairs, it’s a wonder no one has called the damn cops. What the hell did you _do_ to him, Cas?” he asks.

“Well, he’s currently tied to his headboard with his pants-” Castiel starts, earning a _look_ from Dean when Sam cuts him off.

“Not a question I actually wanted an answer to, Cas! I just want to know where that left over pasta went,” Sam says, gagging behind the door. Well that’s just dramatic. He knows for a fact Dean has told him more detailed parts of his sex life than _that_.

“I ate it,” Dean tells Sam.

Sam groans from behind the door. “Great, not only did you scar me for life with your wild sex, you ate the food I wanted to. Screw you guys,” Sam mumbles.

“I think oral sex technically counts as sex so some did get screwed. Just wasn’t you,” Castiel tells him. Sam starts gagging again and Dean sighs.

“Dude,” he says. “Don’t fill my brother in.”

Castiel frowns, “you’ve told him more details about Lisa than I just gave him. Follow your own advice,” he tells Dean, reaching out to untie him from his headboard.


	4. Chapter 4

Castiel massages Dean’s wrists gently, “I think these are going to bruise,” he says. He didn’t think he tied the rope that tight, but Dean did keep pulling at his restraints. That might have helped with bruising.

“Yeah, I’m definitely going to have bruises tomorrow,” Dean says. “And by the way whoever the fuck taught you how to give a blowjob has my admiration.”

“Well, thanks to you being a slow teacher I am self taught,” he says with maybe a little too much snark not that Dean seems offended by it.

Instead he snorts, “self taught? I call bullshit, buddy. No one is that good in their first try.”

Castiel rolls his eyes, “that’s a stupid thing to lie about. I’ve read things you know, the mechanics didn’t seem overly difficult and frankly you were a very willing subject,” he says. He’s sure Dean’s imagination has been filling in all sorts of blanks for him not that Castiel minds- less work for him given that he has no genuine idea how to be any kind of sexy.

Dean looks him over for a long moment. “You’re actually telling the truth,” he says and Castiel frowns.

“I already said that’d be a stupid thing to lie about. Why is that so hard to believe? I can’t have possibly been the best you’ve ever had.” Good for a novice is different than good in general and Castiel is more than willing to bet he is the former.

“I uh… I mean no, you’re not. But that did land in my top three,” he says, laughing softly and looking strangely self satisfied given that Castiel did all the work. “You seriously got all that from _reading_?” he asks.

He nods, “most of it. I added in a few details of my own, obviously.”

Dean’s eyebrows draw together, “dude, what the _fuck_ do you read? And all the rope stuff, the tie? And that dirty talk? Did you get that from some… book or whatever too?” he asks.

Dirty talk? Castiel frowns because that’s… not what he would have called that. “Yes. Some of it anyways. The tie was mostly because I was lacking for materials,” he says honestly. It had been a decent enough length to tie Dean’s wrists though he hadn’t considered the headboard problem right away, but that was easily solved.

“ _Please_ do not get rid of that tie- that was inspired. You used to sing in the church choir wearing that,” Dean says, strangely titillated by this fact. Castiel doesn’t see what he does but he’s happy to let Dean take his creative liberties. “And the boy scout thing? And that ‘you’re here to be used’ thing? You’re seriously telling me that you got all that from pinning me down once and _reading_?” Dean asks in disbelief.

Castiel has no idea what answer he’s looking for here. “Yes, Dean, I’ve told you that. Meg suggested-”

“Ugh, Meg,” Dean mumbles, wrinkling his nose. He doesn’t understand what both Dean and Gabriel have against her.

“Don’t make that face, you owe your orgasm to her. Its not like I ever would have thought to look up kinks on my own. I found a few things that appealed to me,” he says somewhat primly. He’s got a bunch of ideas he wants to try too. Like a _lot_. All of them involving Dean in some kind of position where he’s reliant on Castiel for something or another.

Dean’s eyebrows shoot up, “ _kinks_?” he asks. “Shit angel, _please_ tell me what you have gotten into,” Dean says. Its casual, the use of ‘angel’ but Castiel gets that feeling in his gut again, the one that has him licking his lips and pushing Dean back into his bed flat on his back. He swings a leg over Dean’s hips and leans forward, kissing him eagerly. With Dean’s hands free they immediately go to his thighs, running up them until they settle on Castiel’s hips. When Castiel pulls away Dean is a little flushed and dazed, “well, you learned a thing or two from that kissing lesson,” he murmurs.

Sure he did, and he’s sure he’ll learn more with practice. “You _did_ take an excruciating amount of time on that lesson,” he says in a low voice, leaning forward and kissing Dean again. This one is slower, more deliberate, and when Castiel pulls away he catches Dean’s bottom lip in his teeth and pulls a little. Dean’s hands tighten on his hips and he takes that as a good sign.

“Shit, Cas,” Dean murmurs. “I um… we’re going to do this again, right?” he asks, frowning like its just occurred to him that this is a one night stand or something. He supposes that’s not out of character for Dean, a one night stand, but it is a little out of character for him to care either way.

“Of course,” Castiel says. “I am nowhere near done satisfying my curiosity and you… well, you behave so well. It’d be a shame to have to find someone new.” He says it with the intention of teasing Dean and it works at least on some level because he sits back up, hands shifting to Castiel’s ass as he pulls him forward into a kiss. Castiel makes a surprised noise, falling into Dean a little before wrapping his arms around his neck to keep balance.

“Yeah, you don’t need to find anyone else,” Dean tells him, kissing him hard. “I’m all you need.”

Castiel smiles into the kiss, which he thinks ruins it a little but Dean doesn’t seem to mind. “Then I guess you need to prove yourself worth keeping,” Castiel tells him, “like you did tonight.”

“Hell yeah, angel, anything you want,” Dean mumbles into his mouth. Castiel shivers at that, letting out a small moan of pleasure before he presses into Dean again.

*

Okay so at the time Dean thought nothing of it, he was getting a damn good blowjob and Cas leaning over him with a wet mouth, lips pink and flushed… Yeah, that made his morning masturbation session because _fuck_ that’d been hot. But Cas didn’t seem interested in any kind of reciprocation and that’s weird, he thinks. “So guys,” he says to Ash and Jo on lunch break, “last night I slept with a guy. But it was kind of… weird.” He pauses to try and find the words to explain but Jo fills the silence with a snort.

“Yeah, I’ll say. Since when are you into guys?” she asks. Shit. He forgot he hadn’t told anyone here about that… “Relax Dean, we don’t give a shit. So what was weird? Must have been something really off the wall if you took notice,” she says, laughing. Yeah, okay, so he’s pretty known for his experimentation and whatnot so he guesses that’s fair.

“You know, aside from the guy thing,” Ash adds. “And by weird I mean that to our knowledge you’ve never slept with a guy before not, you know, dickery.”

Dean snorts because yeah, okay, he shouldn’t have expected either one of them to care and it feels nice actually, that they know and reacted well. “Okay,” he says, letting the Hallmark moment pass. “So, uh, yeah alright- I got tied up and got the blowjob of a lifetime, might as well be blunt,” he says. Jo and Ash frown at each other but don’t say anything, presumably waiting for the weird part to kick in. “But uh… nothing was reciprocated, if you get what I mean,” he says.

Jo lets out a loud _ha_. “I knew you were a pillow princess!” she says, earning a confused look from Ash. “What? You’ve never heard that before?” Dean has, but only in reference to lesbians, which makes him question Jo a little but whatever. Who’s he to judge?

“Its not that,” Dean says. “Its that he had no interest. Like at _all_.” Castiel seemed plenty interested in _him_ , but not much concerned for himself. “That’s weird, right?”

“But he had an interest in going down on you,” Ash says skeptically.

“Yeah, totally into that, pretty bossy too. Didn’t see that coming but you know, its was hot so I let him play his game, whatever. But like… nothing for him. You guys ever come across something like that?” he asks. Ash shakes his head and Jo rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, I get the reverse- every guy I’ve ever been with leaves me high and dry but they get off,” she mumbles. “Your entire gender is selfish, and the one that isn’t got wasted on _Dean_ ,” she says, shaking her head. “Women everywhere are crying.”

“Hey, we’re not all dicks,” Dean says on his gender’s behalf.

“Not all men, really Dean? Whatever. Define ‘no interest’. Like could he get it up, because that’s a pretty useful process in bed,” she says.

Dean rolls his eyes, “yeah he could get it up, he just didn’t seem concerned about it,” he says.

“Even after you… you know,” Ash says, waves a hand around.

“Yeah, Ash, that’s what makes it weird.” Its not like Dean hadn’t tried but Cas brushed him off and went straight to examining his wrists.

“Think he’ll go down on me and not ask for tradesies?” Jo asks, grinning.

Dean glares at her, “no,” he says with probably too much force.

Jo holds her hands up in mock surrender, “damn, okay. Had no idea you were in a committed relationship over there,” she says, shaking her head.

He isn’t, he doesn’t think. But the thought of Cas with someone else does kind of make him want to rip someone’s lungs out. And Cas is bi at least, if he’s experimented with Meg and he came to Dean specifically. He’s actually kind of mad about that and he knows its stupid, just because he developed some stupid crush on Cas doesn’t mean he staked some kind of claim on him. But the thought of him with Meg kind of makes him want to punch Meg. She could probably take it, she seems tough. She’d probably come at him with a knife though and that’s a ball of crazy he doesn’t want to deal with. That, and he’s pretty sure Cas wouldn’t be happy about him punching his best friend.

“I am not,” he mumbles finally but Jo clearly doesn’t believe him.

*

Gabriel picks Castiel up like normal, and like normal Dean is in the back seat. When he changes the music to something he wants to listen to Gabriel groans, “ugh, not your depressing shit, Cas. I had a hard day, I don’t want to listen to your emo phase,” he whines. “Dean, back me up,” he adds.

Castiel turns to look at Dean and Dean is already looking at him, quite resembling a deer in the headlights. “I wouldn’t if I were you,” Castiel tells him.

“Its not _that_ bad,” Dean says to Gabriel. Castiel smiles and Dean’s cheeks turn a little red. That’s cute, unexpected, but cute.

“Dude, what the _fuck_. You’re defending my little brother’s shit taste in music? Since _when_?” he asks, looking at Dean in the rear view mirror.

Since Castiel started sucking his dick but neither of them tell Gabriel that for obvious reasons. “Better than your music,” Dean says. “If I have to listen to one more shitty pop song I’ll throw myself out of this moving vehicle.” Castiel smiles, laughing a little to himself while Gabriel defends his bad music taste. He mostly tunes out the actual words, but he listens to Dean’s voice. It’s a little gruffer than it used to be, deeper too, probably the result of growing up some, and Castiel likes it. He likes that Dean stood up for him too, with barely any prompting at that.

He wants to reach out and thread his fingers through Dean’s, to pet his hair and kiss him but he’s stuck in the car with his stupid brother whining about his perfectly fine music. And Dean is right, Gabriel’s music is _so_ much worse than his or Dean’s. Instead he chooses to send Dean a text with a few instructions that surprise Dean so much he forgets he’s in the middle of an argument with Gabriel. Castiel smiles at that, especially since he can feel Dean’s eyes on him, and Gabriel asks what the hell he just missed.

“Cassie,” Gabriel says when they get home. “Get your ass back here.” Castiel doesn’t listen to him, he beelines it for the house because he needs to come up with some kind of plan for Dean. Gabriel catches up with him though. “Shit Cas, where are you off to in such a rush?”

Castiel glares at him, “none of your business,” he tells Gabriel. “Now out of my way.”

Gabriel steps back into his path and Castiel gives him another irritated look. “ _Relax_ Cassie cakes, just answer this one question and I’ll let out off the hook.”

“If you give me a riddle I’ll punch you,” he tells Gabriel. He’s half serious about it too.

“Chill, little brother. What’s got your feathers in a ruffle?”

There’s his one question. Castiel smiles, “nothing that concerns you,” he says and he goes to step around Gabriel.

“Whoa, whoa, get back here. Seriously Cas, what’s up with you? You’ve been acting weird for the last week or so,” he says.

The only reason he even stops is because Gabriel sounds concerned and when he turns around he looks it too. Castiel sighs, “I um… met someone,” he says hastily. “I like him.” And a bunch of other things he’s not going to tell Gabriel about.

Unfortunately for him he figures it out anyways. “Oh my god, that’s why you were looking up bondage? Oh, you dirty _bitch_ ,” Gabriel says and Castiel wrinkles his nose. Gabriel has that prideful brother look he gets on his face and honestly Castiel doesn’t understand that. He’s technically not even dating Dean but even if he was he sees no need for Gabriel’s reaction.

“Why are you this _vulgar_?” he asks.

“Dude, vulgar? You’re tying people up to get your rocks off,” he says.

He is _not_. “It’s not sex that interests me, Gabriel, now can you bugger off?” he asks, turning and heading into the house. It shouldn’t surprise him but it does when he finds Lucifer standing in his doorway ten minutes later.

“Gabriel thinks whomever you met is a bad influence on you. He must genuinely be worried if he came to me,” Lucifer says. Must be, yes, because they’ve learned not to go to Lucifer for anything a long time ago. Lucifer might complain about their absentee father, later dead, but he’s just as distant, more so maybe. “I have to say he’s a bit of an idiot for not noticing you’re fucking Dean Winchester and honestly Castiel, great taste, really, but I don’t approve.”

Castiel squints at him for a moment, trying to determine if Lucifer is actually serious about that. “You don’t approve?” he asks, suddenly pissed. “Well I don’t approve of whatever it is you did to Sam Winchester but you didn’t ask me what I thought before hand now did you? I don’t give a damn about your approval,” he tells Lucifer. To a point he doesn’t care about Gabriel’s either, which is convenient because Lucifer exploits the obvious loophole.

“And if were to tell Gabriel his precious baby brother is screwing around with his bad boy best friend?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

He’ll make good on it, Castiel knows he will because Lucifer is an asshole. “Go ahead, then I’ll tell him you screwed around with Sam and see how he likes knowing that his entirely hypocritical lack of approval for Dean given his _own_ dating life is really the least of his worries,” Castiel tells him. “I’m assuming you know Gabriel and Sam are together if you know about Dean and something tells me he’ll be understandably more concerned about _your_ relationship than mine,” he says. He’s sort of surprised Sam hasn’t said anything, but he’s always been the independent type and Castiel hasn’t said anything because it’s not his story to tell. Instead he decided to keep a close eye on Lucifer, but Lucifer isn’t a moron. He noticed and backed off.

Besides, he knows Gabriel will be pissed at Dean, and he knows Dean will be pissed at Gabriel now matter how stupid either of them are for holding that opinion. But both of them would decide Lucifer is the bigger fish to fry and Castiel gets the feeling that Dean in particular would be pretty happy to fry Lucifer. Which he knows Lucifer would know because he’s not stupid, not totally anyways. He’s a creep, and a predator too, but he’s not lacking for intelligence. Just any decent set of morals. Beyond that Gabriel and Sam are actually good together- opposites, but in a good way. He and Dean are good together- opposites, but in a good way. Lucifer can eat it.

Lucifer laughs, “shit, and dad thought _I_ was the rebellious one. Yet here you are, refusing to go to church, coveting the neighbor right after tying him up- yeah, I know about that too, and all under your own brother’s nose,” Lucifer says in a velvety tone, shaking his head sadly.

Castiel rolls his eyes. “Oh please Lucifer, I may not go to church but I haven’t stopped believing in god, and I’m not coveting the neighbor I’m dating him. I’ll give you the bondage, but Gabriel? I’m not doing anything to him that he and Sam aren’t already doing to Dean. Taste of his own medicine, and all that. And as far as rebellion goes, the difference between the two of us? I do these things because I’m trying to figure out who I am; you were just throwing tantrums like an oversized brat. Now get out of my damn room,” he snaps.

Lucifer laughs, shaking his head. “Man, I wish dad could see this. You were always his favorite. Probably wouldn’t be now,” he says, shutting the door behind him.

Castiel frowns because he was never their father’s favorite. That was Raphael.

*

Dean’s got a lap full of Castiel and he’s fucking _pleased_ about it. He’s spent so long lusting after Cas and now he’s in Dean’s lap tracing over his chest with his fingertips. Dean has been told that he can’t touch Cas so his arms are firmly planted on either arm of the fluffy chair they’re sitting in. Sammy is out, presumably all night considering their deal, and Dean is kind of glad for it now even if he worries about Sam still.

Castiel’s heated gaze draws him back in and honestly its weird with him and not really in a bad way. Cas is fucking great, but he’s got some odd tastes. Dean hadn’t noticed it in the moment, hadn’t even noticed it until he’d been told not to touch Cas, but he doesn’t really respond to any normal thing Dean would do to get someone in the mood. But he _does_ react to Dean following instructions, like a lot. And that’s not what Dean’s used to seeing either but he quickly decided he didn’t give a fuck about that because Castiel is the last year of his fantasies coming true and Dean isn’t about to be picky on what Cas is into.

And he’s into it too. He wouldn’t have taken himself for the type really, but he likes the way he can see Cas react when he follows Cas’ instructions. He _wants_ to listen to him, to do as he’s told. Its not a familiar feeling but its one that makes him feel… he doesn’t know how to describe it. Safe, maybe? Wanted? That doesn’t seem like the right way to put it but after a long day its nice to have Cas tell him what to do. He can shut his brain off and let Cas run the show and _boy_ does he run it. If he didn’t think he was the type Cas is even more of a surprise. Sure, everyone has a side people don’t usually see but the side where Castiel is suddenly good at dirty talk, blowjobs, and tying people up? Dean would have never seen that coming.

Cas shifts and Dean licks his lips as Cas looks down at him. He’s actually shorter than Dean though not by much, but the way he’s positioned himself at the moment has Dean tilting his neck back to look up at him. He’s got this weird, fluttery feeling in his gut that gets stronger if he sinks a little lower in his seat. It occurs to him that he likes when Castiel towers over him and it seems to occur to Cas too. He carefully curls his hand around Dean’s jaw, “you look beautiful like this, underneath me,” Castiel tells him, voice gravelly and rough. It hadn’t been like that a couple years ago and Dean thinks he started paying attention to Cas when it changed. Now he’s got this deep, sexy voice and Dean’s pretty sure Cas can convince him to do whatever he wants with it.

“Yeah, Cas,” Dean breathes out even though that makes no sense as a response to what Cas just said.

Thankfully Cas doesn’t seem to give a shit. “You’ve been good so far,” Cas tells him and he nods stupidly along but Cas smiles at him like this is the best reaction he could have had. Dean smiles too. “Are you going to continue to be good for me?” he asks and Dean nods again.

“Anything you want,” he tells Castiel.

Castiel licks his lips, “well that’s just dangerous Dean. You have no idea what I’ll ask,” he points out.

He’s known Cas for years, he wouldn’t hurt Dean. He’s had plenty of opportunity to do it so far and he hasn’t. “I trust you,” he says and that, of all things, gets a reaction out of Castiel. He pushes Dean further into the chair behind him and kisses him harshly, overeager but that has its own appeal. Dean moans softly and tries to gain some kind of control over the kiss but Castiel refuses, pulling back a little every time he manages to gain an inch of dominance. Finally Dan gives up, instead letting Castiel do what he wants.

Despite how this started Dean can tell Cas has some experience kissing, he’s actually kind of skilled at it. A little unrefined, but that comes with more practice and Dean’s happy to be the lab rat for this one. Take one for the team and all that. Besides that Cas is hitting all sorts of buttons he didn’t know he had, nipping at his bottom lip as one hand settles at the base of his throat. Dean tries to tilt his head back some, a silent plea for Cas to lift his hand higher, but he accidentally breaks the kiss instead. When Cas doesn’t come back to him he swears he lets out an honest to god _whine_.

Cas laughs though, “oh, what’s that?” he asks, fingers flexing at his throat. “Do you like this?” he asks. Dean nods a little and he already knew he liked this. He’s had a few more adventurous adventures and one of them involved a little choking and _damn_ it’d been good. It’s better with Cas because Dean had bought into that stupid innocent angel thing too, and to see him like this all covered in debauchery is a fucking turn on. Cas, with his pale skin, dark hair, and piercing blue eyes- he’s always been what Dean imagined an actual angel would look like and now he’s being fucking _choked_ by him. Well, sort of.

Doesn’t matter because Dean has like a million fantasies just like this one and he wants to see which one Cas will make come true or if he’ll make a whole new one like the other day. “I like it too,” Cas murmurs, lifting his hand a little higher on his neck. Its almost loving, the gesture, and Dean involuntarily lets out a soft noise of pleasure. Cas’ hand feels heavy on his neck and he likes it there, like an anchor that keeps him attached to Cas with the way his fingers caress Dean’s throat. There’s the fact that he’s in Dean’s lap, sure, but his hand feels more solid, concrete show of Cas’ presence and the danger of it isn’t lost on him either. That just makes it better though, like Cas literally has Dean’s life in his hand and when he swallows hard he can feel Cas’ hand more, pressing into him a little. Not too much, but enough to be almost invasive.

Cas looks at him with the closest thing Dean has seen to desire in his features but his eyes are fixed to his hand around Dean’s throat. “Cas,” Dean murmurs and Castiel’s eyes flick up to look at Dean. “Can I… can I touch you?” he asks, hands itching to get ahold of Castiel, to let him know how much he likes this, to give him _something_ in return for making Dean feel so good. Castiel tilts his head to the side though, considering.

“No,” he says and Dean lets out a whiny sigh he sort of resents himself for.

“Cas,” he says, whine in his voice too but Cas shushes him.

“Don’t whine Dean. I’ll tell you what I want and you’ll do it, understand me?” he asks and Dean nods. “Good,” Castiel murmurs, tightening his grip on his throat. Dean’s eyelids flutter as his eyes rolls back in his head a little. Yeah, okay, maybe he can forgo touching Cas for the moment.


	5. Chapter 5

Dean doesn’t know why he’s in a bad mood but he’d been so miserable to everyone at work that Bobby banned him to the office, which only made his mood worse. Gabriel notices too and frowns at him, “dude, what crawled into your ass and died this morning?” he asks.

He almost responds ‘your brother’ but that’s rude, inaccurate, and will out their relationship in a way Dean would rather keep secret. Instead he shrugs, “don’t know, I woke up like this.”

Gabriel snorts, “buddy if you’re going to start quoting Beyoncé you at least need to be in a good mood to do it.” He pauses for a moment, considering, and then sighs. “Okay I know you’re in a shit mood but I need some advice and you’ve got Sam and- Cas is acting really weird lately,” he says, apparently deciding to just come out with it.

He’s an asshole for it but he wonders if Cas has talked about him, even if he obviously hasn’t mentioned him by name. “What’s that mean, exactly? Like acting weird how?” He’s only fishing for details over telling Gabriel to fuck off because he genuinely wants to know if Cas has mentioned him and he really deserves a kick in the dick for that.

“I… its hard to describe but you know Cas. He’s never shown an interest in sex or romance or like… you know, anything along those lines. He doesn’t even like movies with romantic subplots, which is basically every movie ever made. Only now he’s got this sudden interest in a bunch of shit that doesn’t even sound like him,” Gabriel says.

Yeah, so Dean knows only he knows its not that Castiel lacked an interest, he’d just never been exposed to it. There’s a difference. And apparently he’s a quick fucking study too- he does a little reading and bam, suddenly he’s got a bunch of dirty ideas and Dean as a test subject. He kind of wants to know if he’s more than that but he sure as hell isn’t asking either. Cas is ridiculously blunt and Dean doesn’t really want to hear the truth.

“Define ‘doesn’t sound like him’,” Dean says to Gabriel.

He thinks on it for a moment, “I… he’s suddenly into bondage now? You do not want to know how I found that out, _I_ don’t want to know how I find that out. And the interest is not casual,” he says.

Dean knows that too. “So maybe he’s just into some stuff you didn’t anticipate. I mean there was that time with the whipped cream, you didn’t expect to like that,” he points out. Or Kali, but they didn’t last long. Gabriel hasn’t dated anyone else since and Dean kind of wonders if he’s hung up on her somehow but doesn’t know how to ask.

Gabriel rolls his eyes, “Dean, I’ve always been a little frisky and adventurous- it’s not really that shocking that I did some weird shit with food and liked it. Cas doesn’t do stuff like this, _ever_. Something’s wrong,” he says.

There’s nothing wrong, not from Dean’s point of view anyways. Not when he regularly finds himself under Castiel waiting for whatever it is Cas wants to do to him. “Maybe its not about sex,” Dean says to Gabriel. It doesn’t seem to be not that he’d tell Gabriel how he came to that conclusion.

He doesn’t seem to make the leap anyways because he frowns. “The fuck else would his spontaneous interest in bondage come from? Did you bad mood knock your brain to your ass or what?” he asks.

Dean rolls his eyes, allowing himself a moment of irritation but only a moment. This is a good way, he thinks, to find out what’s up with Cas’ disinterest in getting off. Its not like he wants to ask himself, and if Gabriel has it in his head to ask about it himself, he’ll report back to Dean. “I don’t know, but you said it yourself- Cas hasn’t ever shown an interest in sex so maybe this is something else.” He doesn’t get it either, but he knows Cas’ interest in sex isn’t exactly what he’d call normal. And the only time Dean gets a strong reaction out of him is when he does what Castiel wants, and half the time that’s not at all related to sex so obviously he hasn’t dropped his usual indifference towards to subject. Even when he’s doing sexual shit he doesn’t seem to care much about himself, which Dean secretly enjoys but he resents Jo’s accusation of being a pillow princess. He is _not_.

Gabriel considers this possibility for a moment. “Okay but why else would you tie someone up?” he asks, reiterating his previous point.

“I don’t _know_ , man, that’s why I told you to just ask Cas. If it isn’t sex he’s got some other thing going on so figure it out instead of griping at me,” he says.

“You’re a shit friend,” Gabriel tells him.

“You know what, after that time you threw up in the Impala you don’t get to call me a bad anything,” he tells Gabriel. That was _disgusting_ and Dean was the one who had to clean it.

*

Castiel is in his room avoiding Lucifer and his silent judgments when Gabriel barrels his way in. He lets out an annoyed sigh, “do you even know how to knock?” he asks sharply.

Gabriel shrugs, “I already know you aren’t jerking off little brother, so I figure busting in is safe.”

One time, _one_ time he admits that he doesn’t really masturbate at all if ever and Gabriel has never let it go. “What do you want?” he asks, already irritated with Gabriel’s presence.

He’s surprised when Gabriel says nothing at first, just looks at him for a long time. He’s obviously worried but Castiel can’t imagine what he’s worried about, things have been pretty steady lately. He finally sighs though and leans against the wall opposite to Castiel’s bed. “What the hell has been up with you lately? You’ve been acting weird,” he says.

Weird? Hardly. “I have not,” he says in his defense but Gabriel rolls his eyes.

“Oh really? Because I’m pretty sure if I brought bondage up to you two months ago you would have looked at me like I was nuts,” Gabriel says.

No, he would have went and looked it up assuming Gabriel said something beyond a stupid sexual remark. He’s heard plenty of those and ignored them all because his interest in sex is almost purely out of simple curiosity. Had someone mentioned the kinds of things he’s been reading he would have shown an interest a long time ago. As it is stumbling across this interest had been a total fluke on his part. It’d mostly been that fooling around he’d done with Meg, she’d tried to pin him down and he hadn’t cared for it.

But he hadn’t cared for it because he wanted to be on the giving end, not the receiving. So when he had Dean underneath him he’d given in to an impulse he had to pin Dean’s wrist above his head, a remnant of that time he’d wanted to be the one to pin someone down, only to have Dean react beautifully to it. It was all a series of events that were totally coincidental. Then Meg pointed him in a new direction and, well, now its history.

“Would not have,” he says.

“Would so, I’ve made like a million bondage jokes and you always roll your eyes,” Gabriel tells him.

Castiel rolls his eyes back, “no, you make sex jokes and I find them stupid. You’ve never made a bondage joke.” Not strictly a bondage joke anyways. It’s resulted in Castiel sticking the two together in a way he’s got separated in his mind now. Sexual things are fine he supposes, he’s still trying to figure out what the hoopla is about, but the stuff he’s been reading online? That’s way more appealing to him than sex has ever been and some of the rigs people have are ridiculously elaborate.

“Well what the fuck Cas, because this came from literally nowhere,” Gabriel says. “Is… is someone pressuring you into something?” he asks, dead serious.

If he didn’t look so worried Castiel would have rolled his eyes at him again but he looks so concerned that he sighs. “No Gabriel, I just… came across it by chance and I like it,” he says honestly. It’s not really something he wants to discuss with his brother but he knows Gabriel is going to insist.

“Like _what_ , Cas? Its not like you’ve ever been interested in sex before,” he points out.

Castiel frowns, “what’s this got to do with sex? I thought you were concerned about the bondage thing,” he says.

Gabriel squints at him, “same shit buddy, keep up,” he says. “So what gives?”

“Well, first of all my interest in sex is mostly because everyone else never shuts up about it so lets get that out of the way. And the bondage thing doesn’t have anything to do with sex, for me anyways,” he says. For Dean? Yes, it seems to be a major part of things but Castiel doesn’t care either way. The reason he chose to go down on Dean was because he knew Dean wanted it and he wanted Dean to want it, and him, not because he had any genuine interest in the sex act.

“Then what he hell _is_ it about?” Gabriel asks. “And what do you mean ‘for you’? Did you actually try this stuff on someone?”

He looks suspicious and a little angry and Castiel has no idea why. He’s slept with half the damn town, rivaled only be Dean probably, so why’s he pissed off about Castiel’s sex life? “Yes, obviously I tested it on someone, I wanted to know if my interest was genuine or if it was one of those things that sounds good on paper but not so much in real life. I told you I met someone, the math on that is not something I should have had to point out,” he adds.

And this all sounds great on paper, well, computer screen- but in real life its so much better. Too bad he’s lacking for most of the materials he has in his fantasies- he’d probably have a lot more fun with Dean if he had access to everything he wanted. Instead he’s limited by what’s in his room mostly, not that he’s exactly lacking for ideas there either. He wants to know what Dean would do blindfolded while Castiel has him tied up, how he can toy with Dean’s senses that way. And that’s the tip of the ice burg, really.

“Who the hell have you been tying up, Cas? And if this isn’t a sex thing what is it?” he asks again.

“Who I tie up isn’t your business,” he says primly. “And its about…” he trails off, unsure how to describe it. He’s read some things that are accurate to how he feels, but he doesn’t really know how to translate that to Gabriel. “I like the control I have,” he says eventually, “when someone is tied up for me.”

It results in Gabriel giving him a ‘what the fuck’ look, which he could have predicted, but Gabriel is the one who asked. “That sounds messed up, Cas,” he says.

Oh, as if Gabriel’s tastes are totally _normal_. “If you’re going to be judgmental don’t ask,” he tells him.

“Well you were the one who was all ‘I like controlling people’,” Gabriel tells him. “What the hell am I supposed to get out of that?”

“First of all I didn’t say I liked controlling people, I said I liked the control I have when someone is tried up. They have to hand over the control first, Gabriel. Its not like I’m tying people up against their will, they _want_ to be there.” Or at least that’s what he’s gathered from Dean’s reactions though he’s quite vocal when he doesn’t like something. If he had no interest he’d say something though it occurs to him that he should probably ask Dean a few questions beyond that brief text conversation, figure out what he wants. And to tell him what Castiel wants. Might turn up some new and interesting ideas.

Gabriel rubs his eyes. “Where the _fuck_ did this all come from? Because we used to tie you up all the time when we were kids and you hated that,” he says.

Castiel rolls his eyes because Gabriel clearly doesn’t get it. “I hated it because _I_ didn’t want to be tied up. I wanted to tie _you_ up- don’t make that face at me, its not sexual. Mostly at the time it was me being pissed off that my asshole older brothers kept tying me to things. And there was that time with Raph,” he points out.

Gabriel wrinkles his nose because they all remember the absolute bitch fit Raph had when Castiel tied him to the picnic table in the back yard and left him there. Admittedly it wasn’t the most polite way to go about things but he’d been annoyed that him, Lucifer, and Gabriel kept tying _him_ to things and leaving him there so he got a little revenge. It was hardly Castiel’s fault that Gabriel had been off at a friend’s house at the time, and Lucifer is was impossible to catch, that left Raphael and he’d not been pleased to have his games turned on him. Castiel remembers that self-satisfaction too, but hadn’t really considered it until now. Not in this context, anyways. He suspects that’s because it was _Raphael_ he tied up. It’s still the only time Castiel has managed to get one over on him and he spent _weeks_ whining about it.

“Yeah, okay, that was one time. And you were in boy scouts for years and this wasn’t a thing,” Gabriel says but the only reason Castiel ever stayed in boy scouts was because he liked tying knots. Its not like his parents’ plan to make him more social worked out, the other kids hated him and he hated them too. He’d been more than content with Meg but his parents thought he should relate to the other kids more. The only thing he’d liked about boy scouts was the knots. Its not like he enjoys camping- its cold and miserable.

“Actually I tested them on Meg once. She didn’t like it,” he says. She got over it obviously, but her revenge was tying him to a chair and making him watch horror movies with her. And that was the start of his foray into that genre.

“You tied Meg up? _When_?” Gabriel asks.

“When I was a boy scout, moron, keep up,” he tells Gabriel. “Now that I think about it I’ve always had an interest in it, but anything I heard about bondage after childhood games was attached to sex so I didn’t pay much attention to it.” And no one ever let _him_ tie them up- that time with Meg aside, he was always the one in the ropes and it had annoyed him to no end. Now he realizes why that is. Hindsight is twenty twenty he supposes.

“Okay, I have learned nothing from this conversation except the horrifying knowledge that you found out you were into bondage after tying Raphael to a fucking picnic table and you didn’t realize it until I poked the bear. Well consider me done doing _that_ for life and I’m going to leave you here. Seriously though Cas, if you need anything tell me. You’ve been acting off lately and I just want to know you’re okay,” he says.

Usually with admissions like that he buries them in a joke, so the fact that he hasn’t surprises Castiel. “I’m fine, Gabriel, I’m just testing things out.”

Gabriel lets out a sigh and pulls off the wall to walk away before turning back to him. “Okay, I’m curious- is bondage the only thing you’re into?” he asks and Castiel laughs. So much for never poking the bear again but this is Gabriel. Poking bears is his specialty, even when he probably doesn’t want the results.

“Do you really want the answer?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

At least Gabriel considers it for a moment. “Yeah, I’m going to regret this but if I don’t get an answer it’ll eat me alive. Go for gold, Cassie, what tickles your fancy?”

“The more mental side of things,” he says. “I like the idea of messing with someone’s mind, their senses. There’s other things too, I’ve been reading about electical play and-” Gabriel taps out then.

“No, nope, hells _no_ I lied, I didn’t want to know. Lets not ever have this conversation again,” he says, fleeing the scene. Castiel rolls his eyes because he _knew_ that would happen. Guess it’s a good thing he didn’t mention the knives.

*

Sam laughs as Gabriel shudders, “it was _so_ not cool, man. I expected normal shit, not _electrical play_. I don’t know what that is and I don’t want to know. Also your brother? Fucking _useless_. I tried telling him about his and his eyes got all glazed over and he stopped paying attention,” Gabriel says.

Amazing, Sam thinks, that Gabriel has missed such an _obvious_ sign that Dean didn’t tune out, he’d been imagining Cas doing whatever the hell electrical play is to him. Sam makes a face thinking about it, which seems to vindicate Gabriel but honestly he’s right, that’s some… he doesn’t know what that is and he’s also uninterested in learning. Apparently Dean feels differently but Sam can’t tell Gabriel that or he’s risking his all night curfew. Instead he shrugs, “I have no clue what that is either, and honestly Dean has the emotional competence of a nugget. Why did you expect better?” he asks. Actually the nugget might be more competent than Dean. At least nuggets can make Sam feel better, Dean? Hit and miss.

Gabriel heaves out a dramatic sigh, “yeah, I guess. Cas though, I don’t get it. He’s starting to sound like Lucifer,” he says and Sam shakes his head immediately.

Unfortunately he has experience to know that’s not true at _all_. “He isn’t. He’s just got… eclectic tastes,” he says. Really eclectic, and apparently electric too, but Cas isn’t a creep like Lucifer. Sam mostly avoids him these days and after Castiel started watching Lucifer like a hawk he stays away from Sam too. He’s grateful to Castiel for that.

“Eclectic? He all but admitted to getting off on controlling people,” Gabriel says.

That’s not what Cas said if Gabriel quoted him verbatim but Sam lets Gabriel have his freak out moment anyways. No sense in arguing with him when he’s stuck on it. Also it brings up some unfortunate memories of Cas doing what _ever_ to Dean that made him loud enough Sam tried to flee his house. Except fucking Gabriel took a nap and _abandoned_ him there. And then Dean ate the damn pasta he wanted when Sam thought he’d only been an asshole and hid it.

“Gabriel, he’s just not into the same stuff you are. Let a guy live,” he says. Preferably not in his house with his brother, or at least out of the house if Castiel insists on Dean. Gabriel grumbles a little but doesn’t argue with him. He curls up closer to Sam instead, resting his head on Sam’s chest. He wraps the arm he’s got around Gabriel tighter, smiling when Gabriel lets out a happy sigh. He’s going to miss nights like this when he goes off to college but he’s not fucking sticking around here. He loves Dean, but he can’t stand spending time with their father and the moment he can he’s gone. Whenever John is gone it’s a blessing, but he always drags his ass back eventually. Sam doesn’t want anything to do with it as soon as possible.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t miss Gabriel. He has no illusions about them keeping their relationship even if he wants to- it’s idealistic and stupid to think a high school relationship will last beyond that even if he’s indulged in wishful thinking. Gabriel will probably go chasing after Kali again, and he’s sure he’ll find someone new eventually. In the meantime he likes moments like this, where he can just relax with Gabriel looking up at the night sky without having to think too hard about it.

“Sam,” Gabriel says softly. Its uncharacteristically soft too so Sam frowns.

“Yeah?” he asks.

Gabriel curls a hand around his and that’s weird too. Sam has always been the more affectionate one and he’s okay with that, but this makes Sam nervous. “Why have you never told Dean about us?” he asks and Sam lets out a laugh, relaxing.

“Uh, probably because he’d skin you alive if he knew,” Sam says. “Same reason you haven’t told him.”

When Gabriel shifts that tight feeling in his gut returns because the crisis isn’t averted like he thought it was. Gabriel sits up and frowns at him, “I never told Dean about us because I wanted you to do it. But then you didn’t and its been a year almost,” he says.

Yeah, Gabriel had been drunk and made a pass at Sam that he denied mostly because Gabriel almost fell down the stairs when he made it and also because it had reminded him a little too much of Lucifer. Sam told him if he was serious about it to call him in the morning but he hadn’t expected Gabriel to show up in his room with greasy breakfast foods wearing sunglasses and a hoodie tied tight around his face. He looked ridiculous and mostly just sat in Sam’s room eating silently but it had been so endearing that when Gabriel felt less like dying Sam agreed to a date. That pass at him on the stairs is the only time Gabriel has ever reminded Sam of his brother.

Now though… he had no idea Gabriel wanted him to tell Dean anything. They’d both agreed it probably wasn’t best to fill him in even though by that point Sam knew about Dean’s ridiculous crush on Cas. He could have used it to his advantage with Dean but he thought Gabriel wanted to keep it quiet, which is probably for the best anyways. Sam loves his brother but Dean has a protective streak a thousand miles wide and he isn’t afraid to start a fight Gabriel will one hundred percent lose. Gabriel is more the ‘avoid all violence’ type while Dean is more the ‘pit bull protecting a child in danger’ type. He hadn’t wanted Gabriel to get hurt or for Dean to get all wounded like he knows he will when he realizes Sam didn’t tell him about Gabriel.

“You do realize Dean will fucking kill you, right? I’m not even sure that’s a joke,” he says seriously.

Gabriel sighs, “yeah okay, but I can deal with that. We’ve been best friends for years, he’ll get over it,” he says.

Yeah, no he won’t. “Would you if he was dating Cas behind your back?” he asks. “Be serious,” he adds partially because Dean _is_ and someone might as well get him warmed up to the idea. It sure as hell isn’t going to be Dean or Cas who does it.

“That’s different. Cas is different,” Gabriel says and Sam rolls his eyes.

“Don’t give me that bullshit,” he tells Gabriel, “he is not. Okay he is but he’s not _that_ different than me. You _know_ how Dean’s going to react if we tell him- are you prepared to deal with that?” he asks. Sam is used to Dean and his moods, he’ll fare just fine but Gabriel? He might lose a friend out of this even if it would be entirely hypocritical of Dean to care. But he’s not really above hypocrisy.

“I don’t give a shit, Sam,” Gabriel says and Sam lifts an eyebrow.

“You don’t?” he asks, genuinely shocked.

Gabriel shakes his head, “no, I don’t. I fucking love you, Sam,” he says.

Sam’s jaw drops in shock, “I, you _what_?”

Gabriel gives him a dirty look but sighs, “I said I love you,” he murmurs quietly, looking away.

It occurs to Sam that Gabriel doesn’t do vulnerability well, not without jokes to try and cover it. “Holy shit,” he says instead of what he meant to. Gabriel cringes and Sam pulls him back in closer, “hey, don’t do that. I love you too,” he says.

He didn’t want to fall in love, its stupid and childish because he’s fucking sixteen and this is never going to last. But here he is and Gabriel loves him too so fuck it, he might as well enjoy it while it lasts. Gabriel grins and practically launches himself at Sam and kisses him, “we tell Dean tomorrow,” he mumbles against Sam’s lips and he nods. Dean is going to lose his shit but whatever.


	6. Chapter 6

Castiel doesn’t expect Dean to be so fucking clingy but he’s practically glued himself to his side. At first he doesn’t particularly care for it, he’s not really the touchy type, but when he wraps his arm around Dean and draws him in its sort of nice, the way he manages to calm him some after that. They end up watching some sci-fi thing Dean chose and Castiel finds boring but his preferred genre is documentaries and neither Dean nor Meg is willing to put up with that so sci-fi it is.

“You’re attached today,” Castiel murmurs into Dean’s hair. He’s curled up into Castiel’s chest, slotted between his legs as he sprawls out across the rest of the couch.

“Kind of had a bad day,” Dean mumbles back. His eyes lids are drooping as Castiel runs his fingertips up and down his arm.

“Yeah? What happened?” he asks. He’d been out with Gabriel earlier so his mood couldn’t have been _that_ bad. Usually when Dean’s in a mood he goes ghost and sits in his room all day. It’s been a long time since that’s happened though. Probably since around the last time John Winchester blew through. Dean and Sam both always do better with him gone.

“Don’t know,” Dean mumbles, “woke up in a bad mood.”

Hmm, that’s weird but he supposes that’s not all that worrying. Lucifer wakes up in a bad mood every damn day Castiel swears, and normal people have bad days all the time. He continues to run his fingertips along Dean’s arm, smiling a little when Dean turns his case into his chest and nuzzles it a little. It’s cute, if a little strange for Castiel.

By chance he catches a glimpse of Dean’s wrist, which is still bruised if yellowed by now. He reaches out and touches it carefully, “sorry about that,” he says genuinely.

Dean turns his hand over and Castiel rubs his thumb over the inside of Dean’s wrist. “‘S’fine,” Dean mumbles.

“Are you sure?” Because Castiel would be right annoyed if he were Dean. Those bruises couldn’t have been easy to hide and its not like they were planned ahead.

“Yeah, Cas. I kinda like it,” he murmurs and Castiel’s mouth goes dry. That’s never happened before but Dean has a way of surprising him and that certainly has his attention.

“And just what did you like?” he murmurs, voice a little lower than usual. Husky would be the accurate description and he’s never heard his voice do that either.

Dean shifts a little so he can look at Castiel, eyes dropping to his lips for a moment. “I uh… guess it was like a reminder of you even though you weren’t there,” he says, looking down at his mostly healed wrist.

Castiel’s lips turn up a little at the corners, “you like being marked by me, Dean?” he asks. The distinct phrasing catches Dean’s attention and he looks back up to Castiel, lust clear on his features.

“Yeah, Cas. I like being yours,” he says.

 _His_. Castiel shivers a little, licking his lips at the thought. Dean, _his_. “Of course you are, gorgeous,” Castiel tells him, brushing his fingers along Dean’s cheek. Dean leans forward and kisses him, long and slow, pushing Castiel back into the arm of the couch. He shifts a little so he’s leaning over Castiel, one hand planted on the couch beside his hip and his other arm is beside his head, carefully bracketing him in. It’s not an unpleasant position to be in, but he’d prefer to trade places with Dean.

Instead of dwelling on that Castiel curls his hands around Dean’s hips, slipping them under his shirt a little to feel the skin there. It’s warm and smooth and he earns a small noise of pleasure from Dean for his efforts. When he lifts the material a little higher Dean pulls away and strips the shirt off, tossing it somewhere before leaning back down to kiss Castiel again. He runs his hands up the expanse of Dean’s back, feeling the way his muscles move as he settles back into a comfortable position. Dean nips at his bottom lip before moving down, teeth grazing Castiel’s jawline. He lets Dean mostly for his benefit rather than Castiel’s, he doesn’t get much out of this really, or anything aside from a minor satisfaction that Dean is enjoying himself.

Things hadn’t been much different with Meg though he supposes that brand of experimentation was mostly because they’d been curious and it made sense to use each other as the test subjects. Dean, he figured, was more experienced so when he’d asked for that sex lesson he figured he’d get more out of it. Now he’s pretty sure that experience isn’t the problem, which means _he’s_ the problem but he doesn’t know what that means exactly. Dean, as if picking up on his inner thoughts, pulls away a little, “you okay with this, Cas?” he asks.

Sure he is, but he’s not so sure he’s the kind of okay with it Dean would prefer. Probably because ‘okay with it’ doesn’t translate directly to ‘interested’ for him the same way it seems to for everyone else. “Yeah, Dean, its fine,” he says eventually because he doesn’t know how to explain himself right.

Dean tilts his head to the side, “you sure? Because you seemed a lot more into this three days ago,” he points out.

Except ‘this’ wasn’t this at all. Dean had been the subject of his affections, tied up and reliant on Castiel, and- well, that’s nothing like right now at _all_. But how does he explain that to Dean? “Cas?” Dean asks, raising an eyebrow.

“That… wasn’t the same,” he says eventually, frowning because it sounds stupid out loud.

“What do you mean?” Dean asks, eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

What does he mean indeed. “I don’t… I don’t know, Dean. It was just easier when you were the focus,” he says. That doesn’t make sense either so he doesn’t blame Dean for looking more confused.

“Yeah but like… I was the only one who got off as far as I know,” Dean says.

Castiel shrugs, “that’s fine,” he says, unsure why this seems to be a problem with Dean.

Dean squints though, clearly no less confused than before. “Dude, you asked for a sex lesson and you don’t care about the finale?” he asks.

Alright, that’s a fair point on Dean’s end but no, he doesn’t. “Not especially, and frankly I only asked because people don’t seem to shut up about it and I know you’re experienced. You seemed like a good place to go but then…” then he found something else entirely. “Well, I don’t think my tastes lie in sex, exactly.”

“Uh,” Dean says, back to frowning. “Mind explaining what the hell the other day was, then?” he asks.

Right, because he’d been into the sex part of that though Castiel supposes he wasn’t exactly lacking interest in the rest. And Gabriel seems to confuse the bondage thing with sex too so clearly Castiel is the odd one out separating the two. “I…” he trails off, considering how to explain this. He’s not doing so good thus far given how confused Dean still is. Instead of explaining right away he sits up, gently pushing Dean back a little has he does. Dean goes easily, letting Castiel guide him until he pushes Dean back onto the couch, lying across the opposite arm Castiel was just on. “Maybe it’s easier to show you,” Castiel tells him. Dean licks his lips in anticipation and Castiel smiles, grabbing one of Dean’s wrists and lifting it above his head. He finds the other one fast, repeating the action and leaning in, using his weight to hold Dean in place.

“This,” he tells Dean, leaning in close, “is what I like.” He nips at Dean’s jaw and kisses down his neck, earning a shiver from Dean before he nuzzles into the underside of Dean’s jaw. “I like holding you down, seeing what kind of reaction I can get out of you,” he tells him. “I like that you have no choice but to let me do whatever I want,” he adds.

Dean lets out a soft puff of breath, “ _Jesus_ , Cas,” he murmurs. Castiel pulls back a little, observing Dean for a moment before he kisses him softly.

“Do you get it now?” he asks, pressing another soft kiss to Dean’s lips before he gives Dean space to answer.

“Kind of,” Dean says. “But like… what’s the end goal for you if I’m the only one getting off here?”

Why is it that orgasms seem to be the only way for him to find his happy ending? That’s boring. “ _You_ , Dean,” Castiel tells him. It’s the right thing to say because Dean gets that glazed eyed look he does sometimes when he’s particularly aroused by something Castiel has said.

“Me?” Dean asks, “how exactly does that work?”

Castiel hums a little, “I like seeing the way you react to what I do to you,” he says but that’s not totally right. “No, I like that your reactions are _mine_ , Dean, that _I’m_ the one who made you do that. That your pleasure is in my hands, and I can make you wait as long as I feel like to make sure you feel good. That I can tease you until you fucking _beg_ for it like you did the other day. God, that was beautiful,” he tells Dean, kissing him again.

Underneath him Dean moans, arching his back a little like he’s trying desperately to reach him. Castiel makes sure he can’t because Dean will get his pleasure on _Castiel’s_ time, not his. He loves this, drawing some kind of reaction out of Dean that’s entirely his making, and entirely his to continue or not. Dean is the canvas, Castiel is the painter, and whatever he does to Dean is the image. Sometimes literally in the case of the bruises wrists.

“ _Cas_ ,” Dean all but whines into their kiss, “please, Cas.”

Oh, that’s just playing dirty. He considers giving in but he doesn’t even if he wants to. He wants to see how far he can push Dean into following his instructions so he pulls away, earning a whine from Dean that he’s sure he’ll deny if Castiel called him on it. Dean tries to follow him but he pushes him back into the arm of the couch, “oh no, you stay there,” he tells Dean. “And here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to leave,” he says and Dean interrupts.

“Cas, no,” he says, reaching out for him with a freshly freed hand. Castiel bats it away.

“Shush. I’m going to leave and you’re going to suffer with your sexual frustration until morning. Then, when you’re in the shower getting ready for work you’re going to jerk off thinking about me,” Castiel tells him. Dean’s got that glazed over look again and Castiel smiles, satisfied with himself. “And no cheating,” he adds before moving further away.

“Cas,” Dean says, sitting up again and reaching for Castiel again.

“What was it you told me not long ago? That patience is a virtue? Follow your own advice, Dean,” Castiel tells him.

Dean pouts, “and you said patience was for assholes.”

Castiel grins, “well Dean, I happen to be an asshole so deal with it. You’ll get your release tomorrow,” he says.

The grumpy look on Dean’s face is absolutely priceless.

*

Fucking Cas. He’s a damn tease and he’s fucking good at it too for someone who doesn’t seem to give a shit about sex at least if he’s on the receiving end of things. His request probably wouldn’t have been so damn difficult if he didn’t _insist_ on sending Dean a flurry of texts that mostly weren’t explicit but gave enough to Dean’s imagination that he made the damn things explicit.

He’s curious to see if Cas can recreate some of the rope work he’s sent Dean pictures of. He’s also curious about where the fuck Castiel keeps _finding_ the inspiration for some very not wholesome activities in the bedroom. And he’s got ideas; he spent the entire previous night telling Dean all his ideas as some kind of fucking torturous way to test him. He thought of giving in, _god_ did he think about it, but in the end he’d kind of wanted to play along. To see if it was as good as Castiel thought it would be.

Needless to say that when he finds himself in the shower he’s got a lot of material to work with thanks to Cas being an asshole. He swears he can hear Cas in his ear giving him a low, appreciative moan.

 _You waited for me Dean._ Like Dean wouldn’t wait, he’d do whatever the hell Cas tells him to. _Whatever I want? Even if I made you wait longer_? Yeah, he’d do that too. He swears he can feel Cas behind him and yeah it’s only in his mind but he doesn’t care because it’s a damn good fantasy he’s cooking up. _You ready, Dean?_

He fucking woke up ready. _I told you patience is a virtue_ his mind’s version of Cas tells him and yeah, yeah this is going to be good. It’ll be good because Cas made him wait, teased him half the fucking night too. He imagines Cas’ hand settling on his hip behind him as he reaches around and takes Dean into his hand. _Fuck, you weren’t kidding about being ready, hmm?_ Yeah, obviously fucking not when he’d spent most of the night trying to ignore his dick. _You’ve been so good for me, Dean. So good._ He starts moving his hand slow, almost torturously slow like Cas would.

Cas would tease him nice and slow, making Dean wait as long as he could to come. _Not before I tell you to_ his mind’s version of Cas reminds him. _You come on my time, not yours._ Yeah, _fuck_ yeah, whatever Cas wants. He plants one hand against the far wall of the shower as he moves his hand faster. _I want to see how far I can push you. You’ll be good for me, right_? Dean nods stupidly at himself, biting his lip as he imagines Cas’ hand in place of his. _I wonder if I could tease you like this all day, make you wait hours for it. Fucking torture you with it, is that what you want?_ Yeah, that is _so_ what he wants.

“Cas,” he bites out, moaning. “Please, Cas. Need you.”

_Of course you do Dean, you can’t even jerk off alone in the shower without me. You need me to tell you what to do, don’t you?_

He nods again, moaning as his hand moves faster. God, he’s close. _You’re not close until I tell you you are_ Cas reminds him. “Cas,” he damn near whines not that he’d ever admit that to anyone. “Fuck, please Cas I gotta-” words fail him a little as his toes curl. “ _Cas_ ,” he damn near sobs out.

 _Not yet gorgeous, I like seeing you like this, waiting for me to tell you its okay. Maybe I’ll make you late to work_ Cas suggests.

That has no right being as hot as it is and Dean bites his lip hard to keep from coming before Cas tells him to. _Look at you trying to hard to follow instructions, that’s what I like to see gorgeous_. Is it arrogant to have fantasy Cas call him gorgeous when it’s technically himself thinking it? _Not when I’ve called you gorgeous before. And you are, all wrapped up in your little fantasy of me jerking you off. Can’t even come until I tell you to. Bet I’ll be real pleased with this when you tell me_.

Yeah, probably. Maybe. _Definitely_ Cas tells him. “Cas,” he whispers, “can I?”

 _Depends, gorgeous, think I’m done seeing how wreaked I’ve got you?_ No, probably not. Cas is a real pain in the ass that way. _Yeah that’s right, I love you like this, flushed and ready, so ready, but waiting for me. I like making you wait._ He’ll fucking bet Cas does. _Last time I let you out too early. I’m thinking of making the time up now_ Cas tells him.

“God Cas, _no_ , I need to-” his words cut out as he lets out another moan. _You need to wait is what you need to do_ Cas tells him. He’s right, he’s so right, but Dean is so close he doesn’t know if he can…

 _Of course you can, baby, just for me_ Cas croons at him. _You can do it_. For Cas, he can do it for Cas.

The hand he has braced against the wall curls into a fist, “Cas, I _need_ to- need you,” he babbles. “How long you gunna keep me like this, angel?” he asks.

 _Now, Dean_ Cas tells him and Dean finally fucking loses it, eyes rolling back in his head as he lets out a string of swear words that are probably a little too loud. Usually he’s pretty discrete about these things but this time, well. _Aw, can’t even keep silent for me. That’s good Dean, so good_ Cas tells him.

Yeah, he’s not sure any prying ears would agree and at this point he doesn’t give a fuck either because that was probably the best shower session he’s had in years. And most of that was thanks to Cas and he isn’t even fucking _here_.

*

As usual Meg steals his food. “What makes you think he listened?” she asks and Castiel snorts.

“You underestimate my abilities to get Dean to cooperate. Also he told me this morning.” And, much to Castiel’s delight, imagined _he_ was in the shower with Dean, directing the whole damn thing. Dean’s little fantasy at least tells Castiel what he’s interested in and he’d got ideas for that too. Turns out he rather likes being told to wait.

“And you believe him?” Meg asks, incredulous.

Castiel rolls his eyes, “sure. I doubt his vivid shower fantasies would have come from being already satiated,” he says easily.

Meg raises an eyebrow, “do tell, angel,” she says and Castiel wrinkles his nose.

“Don’t call me that,” he says. That’s only okay when Dean does it. “And I am not filling you in on my boyfriend’s sexual shower fantasies,” he says. He doesn’t realize what he says until Meg points it out either.

“ _Boyfriend_? Since when did he get that upgrade?” she asks.

Since never, he hasn’t asked Dean about it. Actually ‘boyfriend’ isn’t even the upgrade Castiel wants to give him but that involves an actual discussion and he has no idea how Dean would take his proposition. “Since I said so, Meg,” he says with far more confidence than he feels.

She knows it too, she knows him way too well not to but she lets it pass. “Come on Clarence, spill the beans on Dean’s sex fantasies about you. I want to know what he dredged up.”

Of course she does. “I refuse to tell you about Dean’s- damn it Meg, give that back!” he says, making a grab for his freshly stolen phone but Meg pulls away too fast. She knows his password too, and even if she didn’t she’d know enough to guess it fast. She lets out a satisfied _ha_ when she finds the offending texts and Castiel sighs, letting her read because it’s too late now.

“Shit, is this any kind of reflection of your kinky toying with Winchester?” she asks.

He sighs, “it’s a good approximation, yes.” Dean has a rather vivid imagination too, and its accurate to what Castiel would actually say. He had no real interest in shower anything before but now… well, it’d be fun to recreate Dean’s fantasy. He has a few additions to make things interesting.

Meg hands his phone back, “you dirty bitch, I didn’t know you had it in you. Seriously, I had _no_ idea. Where the hell did all this come from anyways?”

Same question Gabriel keeps asking and Castiel gives her a dirty look for it too. “Its always been there,” he says.

Meg rolls her eyes, “yeah okay, Cas. You can’t convince me that the guy who barely reacted to literally anything I did- and I tried _hard_ \- managed to do something to inspire a fantasy _that_ dirty out of Dean,” she says.

“You didn’t try anything I liked, Meg,” he says. He laughs at the utterly offended look on her face and she smacks him.

“Castiel fucking _Novak_ I am good at what I do. I thought I must suck but every other guy I tried that shit on was putty in my hands. Face is Cas, _you’re_ the problem,” she tells him.

The words are harsh but they have more than enough rapport for him to know she’s joking. Mostly. “You know, Dean thinks my tastes are strange too. Maybe I _am_ the problem,” he muses.

Despite Meg being the one to suggest it she shakes her head. “Cas, you’re not the problem. Obviously you just have weirdly specific tastes, that’s fine,” she says almost gently. Or gently for Meg anyways.

“No, I don’t mean it like it’s a problem. I don’t care; its everyone else who seems to think it’s a problem. But maybe you guys all have a point.” There must be some way to explain his feelings, something that makes sense to him and everyone else.

Meg frowns, “what do you mean?”

“I mean maybe there’s an explanation for why I’m this way. I didn’t really react to you, and Dean noticed that I had basically no reaction to him sans the ropes and domination. There must be an explanation for that,” he says.

“Yeah dude, your weird,” she tells him. “Does there need to be more to it than that?”

No, but now he wonders. He long ago noticed the way he felt things was different than others, and everyone he’s done anything remotely sexual with has noticed it too. It’s not a large sample size, but Gabriel knows enough about him to corroborate their findings. And that feeling he has with Dean, it’s rarely fuelled by sexual desire though sometimes its present also. But never without an element of dominance over Dean. That seems strange enough to warrant some kind of explanation.

“I suppose not,” he tells Meg, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious. Maybe there is a reason I am the way I am.”

“Yeah, pretty sure people are just born with the kind of preferences you have,” she says. He probably would have argued that a few months ago but frankly that’s untrue at least for bondage in his case so maybe people are born with his tastes. Or their own approximation of his tastes.

“I don’t mean that, I mean the sex thing,” he says. “I’ve read stuff about people’s sex lives outside of their BDSM activities- they don’t seem to have the same problem I do. At best they just don’t like vanilla relationships- whatever it is I have going on its more than that.” He has next to no interest in sex outside of it and even at that Dean is the subject of his affections. Returning the favor isn’t something he cares about- Dean is the entire show. Which he also gathers isn’t normal thanks to Dean.

Meg shrugs, “never seemed to bother you before,” she points out.

It doesn’t bother him now either, which he tells her. “I just want to know if someone else feels the same way. I can’t be the only one,” he says.

Meg rolls her eyes, “in a world with what, seven billion people on it? Hell no,” she says. “But if you’re that stuck on it Google it I guess.”

“What do I Google? ‘Not interested in sex’?” he asks.

“Yeah,” she says flippantly. “Seems to be your problem, doesn’t it? Unless you throw some kinky shit in there,” she says, laughing.

True, even if that’s not really the point of the interactions. It is a pleasant bonus though, but he thinks that’s because Dean is so pretty when he’s turned on.

*

This is going to go all kinds of bad and Sam doesn’t want to deal with it but he probably should. He knows his keeping their relationship a secret sort of hurt Gabriel’s feelings even I he hadn’t meant for that to happen. He mostly just wanted to avoid Dean murdering someone because then he’d have to help cover it up and he doesn’t really want to cover up Gabriel’s murder. What’s he supposed to tell Cas? What the hell would _Dean_ tell Cas seems how they’re apparently dating now? He’s not sure Dean would call it that but Sam hasn’t seen him dopey over anyone like this. Lisa is a close second, but they moved before Dean could get overly attached. And even then he didn’t spend all his time staring at his phone with a forlorn look on his face until he got a text from Lisa like he does with Cas.

At least his relationship might work out in Sam’s favor- he can’t be pissed off at Gabriel for doing the same thing he’s doing. Okay well he will be but Sam knows he’s the voice of reason here, he’ll work it out with Dean and hopefully that means no murdering Gabriel. Dean is trying to eat an entire pie when the doorbell rings and he frowns, bite almost to his mouth before he sighs and goes off to answer it. Sam’s heart is beating so loud he can hear it because he knows that’s Gabriel and he knows this is so not going to go well.

“Gabriel?” Dean asks more than states at the door. “Since when do you use the door bell? Usually you just walk in and scare the piss out of us all. Cas too, you two need bells or something,” he says, laughing at his own joke before stepping aside to let Gabriel in.

Gabriel walks in, false confidence dripping off his every move as he makes a beeline for Sam and oh Jesus he’s going to be _this_ blunt about it? Thankfully Gabriel seems to sense Sam’s bone deep ‘do _not_ fucking kiss me’ face because he just stands by him instead, settling his hand on the small of his back like normal. “Hey Sam,” he says and there’s a warmth to it Sam hadn’t recognized before. He just thought that was normal for Gabriel but now he realizes that he’s a dumbass and that Gabriel has been in love with him for a long time. Months, actually. But it wasn’t until Sam thought about it that he noticed.

No one can argue that the Winchester men are observant. If they were Dean wouldn’t look so fucking confused. “What’s wrong Sammy? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Also why the hell is your hand on my brother’s back?” he asks Gabriel, eyes narrowing and Sam knows that body language. He’s about to punch someone and its probably Gabriel.

“We’re dating,” he blurts, hoping to shock Dean into not moving but that doesn’t work.

Instead he squints at Gabriel, “you’re _what_?” he asks in a low, dangerous tone.

“Dating,” Sam repeats. “Also in love,” he adds.

Its one hundred percent the wrong thing to say because Dean takes a quick few steps forward and Sam moves in front of Gabriel, pushing him behind him instinctively. “What the _fuck_ , Sam,” Dean says.

Sam raises an eyebrow, “don’t think you have a right to judge friends dating younger brothers, Dean,” he says, pointing out the obvious without outright stating it. Gabriel doesn’t know, probably for the same reasons Sam chose to keep things from Dean.

“That’s true, you’ve probably slept with a lot of younger siblings,” Gabriel says, sticking his head out from around Sam’s back. It would be almost cute, the way he’s clinging to the back of Sam’s shirt, peeking out around him but Dean’s steam-blowing-out-his-ears look is making it not so cute.

Sam gives Dean a meaningful look that he knows Dean understands. “Its fine, Dean,” Sam tells him in a calm, even voice.

“Oh _fuck_ you Sam, it is not!” Dean yells.

He lets out a breath of relief and he can see Gabriel give him a confused look out of the corner of his eye but he goes back to hiding behind Sam when Dean takes another step forward. Sam rolls his eyes, “what are you going to do Dean, punch him out?”

“I’m fucking debating on it,” he snaps. “You can’t hide behind Sam forever,” he tells Gabriel, glaring at the space Gabriel would occupy behind him. He looks ridiculous glaring at Sam’s chest but whatever. Anger is good though, it means Dean is at least processing it.

“You’re not going to punch Gabriel,” Sam tells him. “Jesus Christ Dean, I can date who I want.”

“You’re dating my best friend!” Dean yells. “And _no one_ told me!”

“Probably because you’re screaming about it now,” Sam points out. “And you _really_ don’t have a place to judge dating best friend’s brothers either.”

He feels Gabriel shift behind him, “the hell are you talking about? Dean, did you start dating Lucifer without my knowledge because if you did I advise you to get better taste, man,” he says flippantly, sticking his head out from around Sam again.

This time he does smile because that really is adorable. “I’m going to fucking kill you,” Dean tells Gabriel.

“Oh holy shit Dean, you’re not killing anyone,” Sam snaps. “Why the hell do you think you can control who I date? I didn’t tell you you couldn’t fuck Cas,” he says.

It’s his one trump card and he doesn’t expect Gabriel to shove him aside and make a lunge at Dean but thankfully he has fast reflexes. “Oh no you _don’t_ ,” Sam says, catching him and lifting him up easily.

“You mother _fucker_!” Gabriel yells.

“Brother fucker actually,” Dean quips, giving Gabriel a tight, pissed off smile.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Gabriel snarls.

“No you aren’t oh my god can we resort to something that isn’t _murder_?” Sam asks. “You two are so frickin hypocritical, you did he same damn thing to each other and you’re seriously mad about it? Grow up,” he tells them. How the hell is _he_ the youngest?

“Stay out of this, Sam,” Dean tells him and he rolls his eyes.

“If you two- Gabriel stop struggling- don’t calm down I’m calling Bobby and _he_ can sort you two out,” he tells them. Dean glares at him for a moment but returns his focus to Gabriel with murder on his face. “Or I could get him to send Ellen,” he says. “So calm down or she’ll skin you for me.”

Thankfully Dean relaxes some even if it’s not really willingly and Gabriel mostly just slumps against him. Sam leaves his arms wrapped around him both as a show of affection and as a way to hopefully save him from being murdered by Dean. And also to avoid him murdering Dean. Three in one, that’s a win for him. Gabriel might be scrappy but Dean used to go hunting with Bobby and Sam would rather not see him use his skills on Gabriel.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Gabriel says. “Cas has been into some weird shit lately… with _you_?” he asks.

Oh shit, Sam forgot about that.

Dean rolls his eyes, “oh shut up man, it was his idea.”

 _So_ not the right thing to say and Sam is happy that he still has his arms around Gabriel because he decides now is a good time to try and murder him again. “Jesus Christ, can you two be normal human beings for once?” he asks, lifting Gabriel off the floor a little to avoid him getting enough leverage to break free. He’s lucky Gabriel is so short compared to him. Though after that growth spurt he’s taller than most everyone.

“It was so not Castiel’s idea!” Gabriel yells.

“Pretty sure it was, Gabriel,” Sam tells him. The comment is enough to make Gabriel stop struggling to give him a betrayed look and Sam sighs. “Dean isn’t the one doing research on bondage and whatever else, Gabriel. Pretty sure that indicates that whatever this is didn’t start with him. If it did he’d be the one scouring the internet.”

Its not really something Gabriel can argue with, it’s a logical point and Sam knows Dean- this doesn’t seem like the kind of thing he’d get into on his own. With this kind of stuff people are usually introducing it to him, not the other way around. Not that Sam wants that knowledge but one time they were all stuck in a trailer in a really shitty park and he got an ear full. Not that this house is much better lately, Dean’s fucking loud when he wants to be.

“Okay,” Sam says, “I think everyone needs some time to process things so Gabriel, you’re going to go home and talk to Cas. I’m going to talk to Dean.”

He carefully lowers Gabriel to the ground but he’s not dumb enough to let him go. Instead he walks him to the door, making it past Dean even if he glares the whole time, before shoving him out. “Love you honey,” he says, grinning before he shuts the door and turns around to face Dean. “And _you_ , don’t you _dare_ tell me who I can and can’t date. I don’t fuck with your dating life, you don’t fuck with mine.”

Something must click for Dean and he tilts his head to the side a little. “That night, when you found out about me an Cas and you called Gabriel- that all night curfew was to spend more time with him.”

It’s a statement, not a question. Sam nods because Dean might as well know. Dean lets out an annoyed noise and shakes his head, “nice, Sammy. Just fucking great.”

“Not like you didn’t stay out all night at my age,” Sam points out. “And my grades are all maintained.” Its not hard for him really, he’s exceptionally good at research and he finds writing essays easy even sleep deprived. That’s all Dean really cares about and he’s always made sure his grades are fine.

Dean lets out a long sigh, losing steam. “How long, Sammy?”

“Almost a year,” he says and Dean rubs his temples.

“Guess Gabriel wasn’t hung up on Kali, he was dating you,” he says, irritated smile on his face. It’s almost a grimace.

Sam nods, “more or less.”

They remain silent for a long moment before Dean speaks. “Is he good to you? Because I’ve known him for years and I wouldn’t take him for the type.”

He means that Gabriel has a reputation that almost rivals Dean’s. Sam laughs a little though, nodding. “Yeah actually, he’s great. Pretty sure he cares more about my grades than I do, or you. He thinks I should apply to Stanford, but I’m pretty sure that’s out of my league.”

Dean smiles a little, “Gabriel’s right,” he says a little sadly. He looks down for a moment and sighs before he walks away. Sam lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. That went mostly better than expected.

*

Dean’s first instinct, right after planning to skin Gabriel alive, is to call Cas. “Hello, Dean,” he says and Dean smiles a little before it fades.

“Hey um, can you come over? You might want to avoid Gabriel also, Sam spilled the beans.” And some other beans too but he’ll wait to tell Cas that when he gets here.

Cas pauses on the other end of the line. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“Not really. Can you come over?” he asks again, sounding desperate but he feels it too.

“Okay,” Cas says softly and Dean relaxes a little.

“Thanks, Cas.”


	7. Chapter 7

Castiel arrives thankfully quick and he takes a single look at Dean before he walks over and hugs him. Its not normal Castiel behavior so Dean appreciates it more than he normally would. “What the hell happened?” he asks.

“Your damn brother,” he mumbles and Cas pulls away, frowning.

“Gabriel? What’d he do?” Dean’s fucking baby brother, _apparently_.

“Turns out he and Sam are dating. Have been for almost a year,” he says. Castiel doesn’t react. Like at _all_. Dean squints a little, “you knew,” he states, not asks. Cas isn’t a good liar on the best of days, but he’s not even trying now.

Cas sighs, “it was obvious, Dean.”

Obvious, to _Cas_? The fuck kind of rock has he been under? “And you didn’t think to say something to me?” he asks. He’s angry, but not as angry as he was- _is_ \- with Gabriel or Sam. He’s not sure if its because he doesn’t have the energy or the willpower or what. Maybe its just because he wants to curl up with Cas and forget about all of this.

“Oh forgive me for thinking screwing around with best friend’s little brothers was not something you had a problem with,” Cas tells him, fixing him with an irritated stare.

Yeah okay, so he earned that but still. “You and Sammy keep bringing that up,” he mumbles.

“Because its true, Dean. So clearly that’s not what you have a problem with, which begs the question of what you _do_ have a problem with,” Cas says and he’s tilted his head to the side, like he’s trying to get the answer out of Dean with that alone.

And it’s a good question actually; Sammy wouldn’t have thought to ask it. Dean wouldn’t have thought about it either, but Cas has a way of finding hidden parts of Dean and exposing them. Boy has he proved _that_ in the last few weeks.

“Hmm,” Cas murmurs, running his fingers down Dean’s arm before linking their fingers together. _God_ , he needs that. He leans back into Cas, letting him support most of his weight. “Come on,” Cas murmurs, “lets go lay down.” He pushes Dean towards his bed and he goes, all but throwing himself on it when he gets to it. Cas laughs a little and Dean half turns to give him a dirty look. “What? I’m allowed to find a little humor in you bouncing a little when you landed. Besides, if you’re upset about what I think you are you’re being ridiculous.”

Ridiculous his ass. “I just… Sammy’s my little brother, he can’t _date_ people,” he says.

Cas snorts, “but other people’s little brothers can grow up and date people? Come on Dean, you knew he’d grow up eventually,” he points out.

“Yeah well, he can wait a few years. And not with my best friend,” he adds. Literally _anyone_ but Gabriel. Okay except maybe Ruby, she has serial killer eyes. Like Meg.

“You know I’m only a year older,” Cas points out. “That’s not much time. And to be honest, Sam has always been the more sensible of the two of you,” he says.

That’s true; it’s always been that way. Sam’s the smart one; Dean is mostly just brawn and good looks. “Yeah, but _Gabriel_? You live with him, you know how he is.” But Sam’s face when he’d asked if Gabriel treated him well- Sam doesn’t look that blissfully happy _ever_. Literally, Dean has never seen that look on his face. And he threatened to kill the thing that put it there. He still sort of wants to kill Gabriel, but that might make things awkward with Cas.

Cas sits down next to him, swinging his legs onto Dean’s bed and he curls up to him immediately. Cas wraps his arm around him as Dean lays his head on Cas’ chest. “Gabriel knows how you are too,” Cas murmurs. “You both have pretty uh… impressive reputations. Doesn’t mean that’s who you are. At least I hope not, mostly for my sake but you know, Sam too,” he says.

Dean lets out a small huff of a laugh. “Nah Cas, you’re different. I…” he trails off, unsure how to explain it. Just, things are different with Cas.

“I know,” Cas tells him, running a hand through his hair and massaging his scalp a little. Dean makes a small noise of pleasure, smiling a little. “Sam’s that for Gabriel, you know. Different. You know how little effort he puts into everything but being lazy and yet he managed to maintain a relationship with Sam for almost a year while also keeping it from you. That’s a lot of work for him to put in and he’d only ever do that if he cared.”

Dean knows he’s right but he sighs. “How the hell did everyone but me know? _You_ knew,” he mumbles.

“I know Gabriel well and I don’t have the downside of thinking my little brother will never grow up to miss all the obvious signs,” Cas says and Dean snorts.

“You sure shit missed all the signs I was into you but you caught _that_?” he asks.

Cas’ fingers pause in his hair, “wait, what?”

Dean smiles and shifts so he can look up at Cas. He’s looking back, adorably confused and Dan can’t help but laugh. “I tried flirting with you, that didn’t work. Thought maybe you weren’t interested so I backed off even though I was pretty sure you’re into guys but hey, maybe I’m not your type,” he says and Cas squints.

“You’re everyone’s type,” he says. Dean laughs a little and he can feel his cheeks turn a little red.

“Thanks,” he murmurs. “But then uh… you showed up on my doorstep and asked for a fucking sex lesson. Pretty sure that came straight out of a fantasy or two of mine.”

Cas smiles, “yeah, you have some pretty vivid fantasies, hmm? Though admittedly me showing up on your doorstep and asking for a sex lesson is not that creative. I prefer your shower fantasy.”

Dean snorts and lays his head back on Cas’ chest. “Yeah, you would,” he mumbles. Cas, and his weird thing for control or whatever. Dean thinks he likes that maybe a little more than he should. They stay silent for a long few moments before Dean sighs. “Can… can you stay the night? Please?” His voice is quiet, a little desperate but Cas doesn’t mention that thankfully.

“Okay, Dean,” Cas murmurs.

*

It’s nearly three in the morning when Sam wakes up to frantic knocking at his window. He blinks blearily and turns on his light glaring at the window only to find Gabriel there. “Dude, what the _fuck_?” he mumbles, opening it.

“Sam you need to wake the fuck up and also answer your phone because Cas is missing and-” Sam cuts him off.

“Dude, he’s probably in Dean’s room. Relax.” He goes back to his bed and throws himself on it, face first into his pillow because he’s fucking _tired_.

“Sam wake the fuck up, a person is missing,” Gabriel tells him.

“He’s in Dean’s room, go check,” Sam mumbles. Dean probably called him as soon as he left the living room and he probably asked Cas to stay the night, and he also probably told Cas to avoid Gabriel thanks to the fight blah, blah, blah. Its not goddamn rocket science, its Dean’s psychology.

Gabriel mumbles something but mercifully leaves him alone to sleep. He’s just getting back to blissful sleep when the cold hits him and he jumps up. “What the fuck?” he asks, flailing around.

“I’m up, your up, asshole,” Dean tells him, glaring down at him with a glass of water in his hand. He used to do that when they were kids to make sure he was up on time for school before he got used to waking up on his own.

“By the way sleep you is a dick. Sleep you would sell Dean for a corn chip for five extra minutes of sleep,” Gabriel tells him.

Sam snorts, “fuck, take Dean, I don’t give a fuck about the corn chip just let me go back to sleep,” he mumbles.

“That’s cold,” Castiel tells him from the doorway, sleep rumpled and annoyed looking.

Dean throws more water on him because he’s a fucking prick.

*

The silence is so thick Castiel could probably cut it with a knife. Dean is sitting on the other end of the couch away from him, Sam is sitting in the chair beside the couch, and Gabriel is standing awkwardly off to the side with his arms crossed over his chest. Finally Castiel gets annoyed and looks over at Dean, opening his arms a little and Dean crawls over immediately, curling up with him. Gabriel looks pissed but doesn’t say anything when Castiel glares him down. He knows damn well what Castiel will say and he also knows he has no right to be pissed off.

“Mind explaining why you didn’t come home last night?” Gabriel asks eventually. “Lucifer almost called the cops.”

Castiel rolls his eyes, “please, if the cops showed up to our house Lucifer would probably end up arrested for something. You know how he is. And you stay out all night all the time, presumably with Sam, so why are you pissed off at me again?” he asks, tone a little more cutting than he means for it to be but he also got woken up in the middle of the fucking night by Gabriel slamming into Dean’s room and demanding he hand over Castiel. He’s earned a little dickery.

Gabriel rolls his eyes too, but he knows Castiel is right. “Yeah well I’m pretty sure he did one worse and called _Raph_ so thanks for that, asshole,” Gabriel mumbles.

Oh _great_. Now he’s going to have Raph crawling up his ass and he’s sure Lucifer will be pulling the strings because that’s what Lucifer does. And Raphael, for all his assumptions of superiority, is actually pretty easy to manipulate. “You couldn’t manage to stave that off?” he snaps. “How many times have I covered _your_ ass?”

“Give the guy a break Cas, he thought you were missing,” Dean says, shocking everyone in the room. Especially Sam. “What? If I thought Sam was missing I’d probably find a way to contact the National Guard,” he says.

Castiel doesn’t actually doubt that. “I’ve still covered for Gabriel out doing a million and one things,” he mumbles.

“And you did it because him not coming home is normal. You doing that is not normal,” Dean points out. Also true but Castiel doesn’t like losing sleep over brothers that should just cover his _ass_ instead of frying it in Raphael’s pan. That doesn’t even make sense but still, Castiel is annoyed about it. And fuck _Lucifer_ , like he was worried. He’s probably just looking for a way to torment someone and Castiel made himself an easy target.

“Yeah, well _you_ were the one who told him to avoid Gabriel,” Sam tells Dean, glaring at him. He likes losing sleep less than Castiel.

“How did you know that?” Dean asks, frowning.

Gabriel looks _pissed_ but doesn’t say anything because Sam gives him a look. “I know you Dean. Plus it was pretty good advice at the time, Gabriel was pretty pissed and it makes sense that Cas would have thought he was calling thanks to him finding out about you and Dean,” Sam reasons.

Which is exactly why Castiel didn’t answer the seventy phone calls Gabriel made. That, and his phone is currently on silent so he could sleep without dealing with fifty million ‘you’re with _Dean_ ’ texts. “Fuck you both,” Gabriel tells them.

“Yeah whatever, just call Lucifer and tell him you found me so he’ll call Raph off,” Castiel mumbles. Gabriel looks pissed off about it but he does dig his phone out of his pocket and walks off to make the call.

“By the way,” Sam says, “if you ever decide you’re going to spend the night again tell Gabriel because if he shows up at my window and wakes me up ever again I’m shoving him off the out of it.”

*

Dean wakes up uncomfortably trapped under half of Cas’ limbs listening to the unmistakably loud sound of Gabriel snoring. He cracks an eye open and looks over to the chair Gabriel and Sam are sitting in. Their position would be funny if he wasn’t so fucking pissed at Gabriel right about now given that Gabriel is sprawled out without much care for the placement of his limbs and Sammy is sleeping uncomfortably underneath him. One of Gabriel’s hands is right over Sam’s face and even in his sleep he looks pissed off about it. ‘Course sleep Sammy is a fucking prick who will apparently just _give_ Dean away for more pillow time.

He stretches himself out a bit, trying not to jostle Cas but it doesn’t seem to do him much good because Cas wakes up anyways. “Damnit, guess I’m not going to school,” he mumbles and Dean sits up.

“Sammy, wake your ass up and go to school,” Dean yells at him.

Sam startles, face pressing further into Gabriel’s hand and he makes an annoyed face, smacking Gabriel’s hand away. “What?” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes. Gabriel continues snoring like nothing is happening. Guy sleeps like the fucking _dead_.

“School, Sammy, get moving,” Dean tells him.

“Fuck off,” Sam says, throwing his head back into the chair and closing his eyes.

“Do _not_ make me toss more cold water on you,” Dean threatens.

“Go throw cold water on Cas and make him go to school,” Sam mumbles.

Dean looks over to Cas, who doesn’t look any more impressed than Sam. His hair is all sleep rumpled and it’s sticking up everywhere though, which is adorable. “I wouldn’t mind if _you_ stayed home from school,” he says, grinning.

Cas smiles too, “of course you wouldn’t. Coffee?” he asks.

He has no idea when Cas started drinking coffee, Dean has always been under the impression that he’s a tea person, but maybe he needs the extra caffeine or something. Dean knows he could use it. “Yeah, I’ll go make some. Sammy,” he says, standing up and walking over to him. “Get up,” he tells him, pulling on a strand of his long hair.

Sam smacks at the space he thinks Dean is in but he’s moved already. He pulls on another strand of Sam’s hair, resulting in more flailing limbs, one of which goes a little wayward and smacks Gabriel. He wakes up with a start, letting out a loud snort and blinking a few times to orient himself before glaring at Sam. “ _Not_ cool man, you got more beauty sleep than me and you’re slapping me awake?”

“Sorry,” Sam says and the damn fucker sounds it too. “But Dean decided to yank my hair to wake me up,” he adds, giving Dean a dirty look over the back of the chair.

“Bitch,” Dean mumbles.

“Jerk,” Sam says back. Force of habit by now. Gabriel flips them both off and closes his eyes again but Dean knows Sammy isn’t going to let him go back to sleep that easily and from the further whining that comes from the living room he’s not wrong.

“Dean-o, make coffee,” Gabriel yells at him.

“He already is, pay attention,” Cas tells him and Dean laughs. He almost feels bad for Gabriel; Cas must be extra annoyed with him if he expects Gabriel to keep up with him in his sleep. But he decided messing around with Sam was a good idea so the pity doesn’t run deep. ‘Course Cas is right about it being hypocritical for him to care about that whole dating his younger brother thing but still. He’s not above being a hypocrite.

When he arrives back in the living room he hands Cas a cup of coffee and sits down with his own. Gabriel and Sam look at him expectantly and he gives them an irritated look, “make your own, assholes.”

Sam rolls his eyes and Gabriel pries himself off his lap to go make the coffee. “You’re a dick,” he tells Dean.

“Oh eat shit,” Dean tells him, rolling his eyes.

“ _You_ eat shit, you’re dating my brother too!” Gabriel tells him, accusatory finger jammed his way. Dean is _so_ tempted to break it. “And you’ve done _way_ more corrupting innocence than I have,” he adds.

Castiel rolls his eyes, “why is it that people only ever attach that stupid assumption to _me_? You didn’t get this growing up, Raph never got it, everyone expected Lucifer to be awful and to be fair naming him that was probably a self fulfilling prophecy. So how come everyone thinks I’m some sweet little angel everyone is looking to break?” he asks, waving a hand around in irritation. Yeah, Dean knows how annoyed he gets with the assumption that he’s some kind of innocent.

He wraps an arm around Cas and leans into him, burying his face in Cas’ messy hair. “Don’t worry angel, I know you’re not that innocent,” he says and Cas melts a little, leaning back into Dean. He seems to like that, being called angel. Weird, but no weirder than anything else about Cas he guesses.

“Ew, don’t fucking do that in front of me,” Gabriel says, nose wrinkled. “I don’t do that with Sam.”

Sam frowns, “you slept in my lap, Gabriel. Pretty sure that’s about the equivalent of whatever the hell these two are doing,” he says, waving a hand at Dean and Cas.

“Did you miss the extended conversations we had about the shit Cas is suddenly into? I don’t know what that was, but it was probably more of Cas’ weird pervert tastes,” Gabriel says, waving a hand around.

Cas squints, “why are _my_ tastes perverted and yours are normal? Mine are barely even motivated by sex and yours are motivated by sex entirely- by definition you’re the bigger perv,” Cas says.

Gabriel snorts, “yeah okay Cas, pretty sure you just don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Pretty sure you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dean says, frowning. “Also I happen to have first hand knowledge that Cas is telling he truth.”

“Do I even want to know how you know that?” Gabriel asks and Dean gives him a mean smile.

“I’m sure you can take a guess.”

“Stop it,” Cas and Sam snap in sync. “Why do you two insist on being such assholes to each other?” Cas adds. “We’ve all screwed over at least two people here with our secret keeping- this is a room of betrayal and we’ve participated equally. Now if we can move _on_ from that…” Cas waves a hand but all Dean needs is one traded pissed off look with Gabriel to know they aren’t ready to let anything go yet.

“We should do a bonding activity,” Sam suggests. The only bonding activity that seems set to happen, though, is the shared ‘what the fuck’ look he and Gabriel give to Sam for such a bullshit suggestion. He sighs, “fine, have it your way and walk around pissed off all the time,” he mumbles.


	8. Chapter 8

“You’re going to have to talk to him some time,” Sam points out. “And your angsty ‘wah, he slept with my brother’ act is getting really old,” he adds. Yeah, he gets why Gabriel and Dean are mad but they’re being stupid. Cas agrees and its freaking intervention time, they’re going to sit down and have an actual ass conversation with each other before they drive Sam and Cas nuts with their angst act.

Gabriel gives him an irritated look for a moment but lets it slide for a moment and there’s something else there. “And if he doesn’t care about any apology I give him?” he asks.

So that’s what this is about, at least for Gabriel. Losing someone. Easier to just stay pissed at them and pretend it was mutual than lose them, right? Wrong but Sam won’t be able to convince Gabriel of that exactly. “He might not, but Dean’s not a total idiot. You’re his only actual friend, and Cas is _way_ more blunt than me so I know he’s pointed out how stupid Dean’s anger at you is. And to be clear your anger is stupid too. Cas and I know how to make our own choices, we don’t need meddling older brothers to do it for us. Or to break their friendship out of some misguided show of love for us.”

“Cas…” Gabriel starts but Sam shakes his head.

“He’s not a kid anymore, Gabriel,” he says.

“Well he ain’t an adult,” Gabriel cuts in and Sam snorts.

“Yeah, neither are you despite being eighteen and all,” Sam points out. “But he’s not a kid. And you can’t really claim he is without insulting me since I’m younger than him.” By a year, but its still a good trump card and Gabriel knows it.

He sighs, “fine, but Cas is different, you can’t deny that.”

Yeah, he’s spent more than five seconds with Cas, he knows that. “So what? How come ‘different’ somehow translates to ‘incapable of making decisions for himself’ to you? Come on, Gabriel, you know that’s ridiculous. And that Cas has always been better at making decisions than you.” Even his impulse decisions, which he suspects Dean falls into, turn out good. Look at Meg- she punched one bully out for him once and they ended up lifelong friends.

“Yeah, and what happens if Dean fucks Cas over, huh? How the hell am I supposed to deal with that?” he asks.

Sam shrugs, “how’s Dean supposed to deal with the possibility _you’ll_ screw _me_ over. You’re working on ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ and yeah sure things could go to shit. Or they won’t and then you’re really going to look like an ass.”

“Well if I _do_ and Dean breaks my little brother’s heart I’ll look like a bigger ass, Sam.” Gabriel shakes his head. “You know, I really think karma is a bitch. What the hell did I do to deserve the exact same thing I did to Dean done to me? I am a much better dating candidate,” he says, arrogant smile on his face.

Yeah, like he means that. “I agree, but my only other choice in this situation is related to me so you kind of win by default,” he says.

Gabriel snorts, “I’d totally win in general. Dean’s cute, but he’s kind of a dunce,” he says. Neither of them believes that but Sam laughs anyways, shaking his head.

“Just talk to him. I’m getting tired of him moping around; he should be past that teenage angst stage of his life. _I_ was over that two years ago.”

*

Cas and Sam ditch them immediately and fucking _lock_ them in the room together. “We have bad taste in little brothers,” Gabriel quips, glaring at the door.

Dean lets out a long sigh, “break my brother’s heart I’ll break _you_ ,” he says bluntly.

Gabriel gives him an annoyed look, “oh coming from _you_ that’s a joke. I have the unfortunate knowledge of the shit Cas has been testing on you. Fuck him over and _I’ll_ tie you up and not in a fun way,” he snaps.

They stand like that for a moment, glaring at each other like they might start a fight before they start laughing in sync. “We’re a pair of fucking _assholes_ ,” Gabriel says, shaking his head.

Dean nods, “shit, right? Pair of right dicks. We’re friends for a reason,” he says.

“Yeah, yeah, but I thought you had the honor and loyalty thing going for you and it turns out you’ll sell a guy out for some solid dick too,” Gabriel says. “Guess I should have expected that, I tend to befriend lovable assholes, not wholesome after school specials. That’s more Cas’ thing.”

Dean wrinkles his nose, “you consider Meg an after school special? You didn’t get any good channels as a kid,” he mumbles and Gabriel laughs.

“Nah, Cas just likes things that are different.” Dean snorts because yeah, ain’t that the truth.

“So,” he says after a moment, “are we cool?”

Gabriel shrugs, “yeah I guess. Unless you break Cas’ heart then you know. Big brother duties first.”

Dean grins, “same to you buddy. I know hunt, and I’m damn good at tracking.”

Gabriel laughs uncomfortably, “guys, let me the fuck out of the room with the sociopath in it,” he says to the door.

*

Meg and Dean glare at each other and Castiel sighs. “Would you two get over your stupid dislike for each other and relax?” he asks. First Gabriel, now Meg, Dean can’t seem to get along with anyone in Castiel’s life. Lucifer he gives a free pass for because he doesn’t like him either.

Though, in Dean’s slight defense he did make it up with Gabriel and they’re back to tormenting each other like normal. Things are still a little awkward but they’re at least not intent on killing each other. They mostly just pout when they have see their respective brother with their respective significant other.

“I’ve never liked you,” Dean tells Meg.

Castiel rolls his eyes.

“I’ve never liked you either, Winchester. I think you’re too Ken doll for Cas here but he insists your worth his trouble. Your shower fantasies are good though, I’ll give you that,” she says.

Dean shoots a panicked look at Castiel, “you _told_ her about that.”

He sighs, “she pried the knowledge out.”

“Can we _not_ tell people what I do in the shower? It’s violating,” he says, looking skeeved out. Castiel gives Meg a _look_ and she shrugs.

“What? I thought we should start with a clean slate,” Meg says with a slight grin. She and Dean continue giving each other dirty looks so Castiel sighs.

“Fine, since you two refuse to cooperate with each other for five fucking _minutes_ ,” he mumbles, irritated. “I did some Googling.”

Of all things to get Meg and Dean on the same page its _that_ that gets them to exchange a look. “Yeah Cas, I have some uh… intimate knowledge of that,” he says and Castiel smiles. Yeah, he supposes Dean does.

“So do I. Did he tell you I wrote the script he used?” Meg says, giving Dean a triumphant grin. Castiel kicks her under the table and Dean turns to him, horrified.

“Please tell me she’s bullshitting,” he says.

“I ad libbed some,” he says and Dean makes a small noise of disgust.

“Like… every time?” he asks.

Castiel rolls his eyes, “no Dean, just the first time.”

“Was the angel line hers or yours?” he asks and Castiel rubs his temples.

“Aww, he liked my handiwork,” Meg says, “that gives me the warm and fuzzies.”

“Turns out I’m asexual,” he says, hoping to stave off this ridiculous pissing contest that Meg is absolutely slam-dunking.

It does at least get them both to look at him in confusion. “A what?” Dean asks.

“Asexual. Don’t do sexual attraction. Actually I thought that was a fake concept- like Valentines Day,” he says, frowning a little. He’d actually been a little surprised when he found the term mostly because he’d never really gotten past the thought that it was made up. He never would have thought ‘asexual’ would be a term in a world where sexual attraction doesn’t exist- to him that’s just normal.

Dean frowns, “how the hell did you think sexual attraction was _made up_?”

He shrugs, “the thought of looking at someone and thinking ‘hmm, I’d have sex with you’ is entirely foreign to me for one. Frankly that sounds absurd.” Meg and Dean exchange another glance and he lied. He doesn’t want them bonding, not if it means leaving him on the outside of this dynamic.

“Guess that explains your entirely pragmatic choice in Dean,” Meg says and Dean frowns at her.

“What’s that mean?” he asks.

“It means you were a logical choice,” Castiel tells him. “And yeah, it explains basically every strange thing about my relationship with sex, actually. Told you there was a word for it,” he tells Meg.

“Logical choice?” Dean says, looking a little offended.

Meg rolls her eyes, “don’t look so upset meathead, Cas is hot. People would definitely be willing to look past his weird habits, he chose you for a reason.”

He frowns, “no one has ever looked past my weird habits but you,” he tells Meg.

“I did,” Dean says. “To be fair.”

“Because he thinks you’re hot,” Meg adds. “And people don’t look past your weird because you don’t let them. Guess that’s probably the asexual thing too- you can’t flirt to save your life but that skill kind of depends on some kind of attraction.”

He supposes that could be true, but Castiel thinks his utter social ineptitude probably does more to inhibit his flirting than his being asexual. He’s never been good with people.

“Wait, you don’t think I’m attractive?” Dean asks, back to being a little offended.

“You can find people attractive without being sexually attracted to them, Dean,” he says, waving a hand dismissively.

Dean frowns, “how the hell does that work?” he asks.

“You ever had a desire to fuck a sunset even though you find them pretty?” Castiel asks bluntly.

Meg snorts and claps, “shit Clarence, I knew I was friends with you for a reason. So the asexual thing, that linked to the kink thing?” she asks and he shakes his head.

“That appears to be a me thing,” he says.

“What about the sex stuff?” Dean asks, still confused. “You’re pretty good for someone who apparently doesn’t do sexual attraction.” He squints a little, making a face as he tries to figure that out and Castiel chooses not to be offended because he’s pretty sure he made the same face when he discovered that apparently sexual attraction is not made up.

“I don’t have an interest in sex- not one that revolves around _me_ anyways. You know this, Dean,” he points out. Thankfully he doesn’t need to spell it out for Dean, he watches the knowledge click into place.

He nods appreciatively, “good point, that would explain your uh… unusual methods in bed,” he says, pausing briefly before giving Meg an annoyed smile. She grins back like she already knows everything and Castiel can’t even assure Dean she doesn’t because she does. Why did he think this would go well?

Dean and Meg consider each other for a moment before Dean turns to Castiel. “How much does she know?”

Meg leans forward, languid and deliberate. “Yeah Cas, tell him how much I know,” she says, smiling at Dean.

“Everything, Dean. Stop making that face- I’ve been reliably informed that best friends tell each other everything,” he says.

“This is the worst day of my life,” Dean mumbles, giving the table in front of him a dead eyed stare. Castiel rolls his eyes because it is _not_ , he’s just being dramatic.

*

Meg tosses the movie to Dean, who grins at Sam. “You wanted a bonding activity,” he says, handing the movie over. “You got it, Sammy.” Gabriel shuffles closer to Sam, obviously curious because they can all tell Dean is up to no good. Frankly Castiel had been surprised by his choice in movie but Meg had a copy and Castiel thinks a bonding activity isn’t such a bad thing. Also he thinks Meg shakes things up enough to keep it interesting, hence bringing her along.

Sam takes the movie, looking down at it before he lets out a loud shout and tosses it. “What the _fuck_ , Dean! You know how I feel about clowns!”

Gabriel’s eyes go bright, “you’re afraid of clowns?” he asks, delighted. Oh, Castiel feels sorry for Sam now. That is not knowledge he would have wanted Gabriel to have.

“I am not afraid, I just don’t like them a lot and it’s completely rational,” Sam says in a panicked voice.

Meg laughs, “I can’t believe you’re afraid of clowns. Go find something worth your fear,” she says. “You know, like wondering if we’re just Sims in some awful game God is playing.”

“Guess the Bermuda Triangle is that part in the game where he gets bored so he kills Sims in dumb ways like taking the ladder out of the pool and watching them all drown,” Castiel says.

“Remember when we used to do that to see which Sim would live the longest?” Meg asks, punching his arm.

He laughs, “yeah, good times.”

Dean frowns, “dude, what the fuck?”

Sam’s eyebrows draw together a little, “dude, you used to pluck wings off flies and keep them on your arm as pets. Lets not act like _Cas_ is the one with the strangest habits.”

Meg wrinkles her nose, “you might have the _worst_ taste in guys I have ever had the misfortune of witnessing,” she tells Castiel.

“Dean’s not so bad. Better than anything you’ve dragged home,” he points out. Which is no one but still.

“We are _not_ watching It,” Sam says, interrupting them. “To be clear. And because it’s a stupid concept, not because I’m afraid because I’m not.”

“He’s terrified of clowns,” Dean says to Gabriel, “always has been.” Sam flips him off as Gabriel rubs his hands together with glee.

“For the record,” Meg tells him, “I think we could have found you something better than Dean.” Cas looks Dean over, smiling at him when Dean looks back at him. He holds out his hand, a silent invitation for Dean to come over to him and he does, throwing himself down beside Cas, linking their fingers together as he does.

“I’m not so sure about that,” he murmurs.

Dean perks up a little, “can I have pie?” he asks and Castiel sighs.

“I lied, you were right,” he says, earning an offended look from Dean.

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing Tumblr](https://tenspencerriedplease.tumblr.com/)


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